Individual Exercises for the Fall Term 



Five studies follow, which are intended to be used by the 

 student, individually, and at his own convenience. The data 

 called for may be picked up during the course of walks afield 

 for air and exercise; but serial or extended observations, 

 that cannot all be made in the course of a single class exercise, 

 are in all cases demanded. Personal initiative is desired. 

 An instructor may be asked to name plants or animals, but 

 the student should learn by these exercises to consult nature 

 independently. He should work alone, or with not more 

 than one or two companions. A good idea of the continuity 

 of nature's processes and of her limitless perseverence in 

 carrying them forward can be gained only by oft-repeated 

 serial observations. 



Optional Study 1. A Student's Record of Farm Operations 



It is the object of this study to discover how the farmer as 

 an organism fits his environment. The student may learn 

 that there is a natural history of the farmer as well as of the 

 farm. He may see that the farmer's affairs, commercial, 

 civic, social, and religious, all have their seasons, even as 

 leaves have their time to fall; that light and temperature and 

 rainfall condition his activities, as they do the growth and the 

 labors of his plant and animal associates. 



The work of this study will consist of weekly observations 

 extending through the term or year. In such a table as is 

 indicated on the next page, there is to be provided one column 

 for the observations of each week. The student will need to 

 be so situated that he may readily observe week by week 

 what the farmers are doing; else he would better omit this 

 study, for secondhand information is not desired. 



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