52 THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA 



ledge of plants themselves. It takes one into the 

 open air. It enlarges his horizon. It brings him 

 into contact with living things. It increases his 

 hold on life. All these facts were well understood 

 by Froebel, Pestalozzi and other educational 

 reformers. It is important that one does not 

 assume too much when beginning plant-work 

 with children. We forget that things which fail 

 to appeal to us, because of our busy lives and 

 great experience, may nevertheless mean very 

 much to the child. Often we attempt to teach 

 the child so much that it is confused and nothing 

 makes an impression. An interest in one simple, 

 living problem that is near to the child's life is 

 worth a whole book of facts without nature. 



It is not primarily important that children know 

 the names, although the name is an introduction 

 to a plant as it is to a person. The essential thing 

 is that there should be plants about the home, or 

 in the school grounds, or in the schoolhouse 

 windows. Even though the children are not 

 conscious that they are receiving any impression 

 from these plants, nevertheless the very presence 

 of them has an influence which will be felt in 

 later life, even as the presence of good literature 

 and furniture and the association of refined 

 surroundings have influence on the life of the 

 individual. 



I dropped a seed into the earth. It grew, 



and the plant was mine. 



It was a wonderful thing, this plant of 



mine. I did not know its name, and the 



