220 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



Now in all this matter of shop and laboratory we 

 are working on the understanding that the boys and 

 the girls must be brought into intimacy with Nature. 

 Some one has said that if you study a single leaf all 

 your life, you will not then know all about it. A 

 Frenchman wrote a book, entitled " The Population 

 of a Pear Tree," and he made out that his tree was 

 the home of a host. What is going on over a five 

 acre lot constitutes a huge library at first hand. 



Then again, in the winter months, your shop and 

 laboratory constitute just the places for more nature 

 study. If you have an orchard, as of course you 

 have, you can collect enough larvae or cocoons under 

 the bark to keep yourselves busy in the entomological 

 corner. Chemistry is always in order, and if you run 

 short of object lessons go to the shop and construct. 

 I do not advocate throwing out mathematics and his- 

 tory, but you will find that these studies illuminate 

 laboratory work and are illuminated by it. 



The simplest way for arranging your laboratory 

 for work will be to have corner closets. In one of 

 these you have a sufficient supply of bottles and pre- 

 servative liquids for the most ordinary chemical an- 

 alysis. Entomology needs its cabinets, its catching 

 nets, and its preparations for preparing what is 

 caught for permanent preservation. Geological col- 

 lections require glass cases or simple shelves, while a 

 fourth corner will readily adjust itself with tables and 

 drawers for botanical work. None of this work 



