64 THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA 



ment which takes the school to the people when 

 the people will not go to the school. The 

 educational impulse must be taken to every man's 

 door. If he shuts the door, it must be thrown 

 in at the window. 



All agricultural educational work is yet in an 

 experimental stage in this country, with the 

 single exception of college work and even this 

 is likely to be much modified within the next 

 few years. Therefore, there are no perfect or 

 generally accepted methods of nature-study as 

 applied to rural education; but sufficient ex- 

 perience has now accumulated to enable any 

 good teacher to make a beginning anywhere with 

 full assurance of doing useful and lasting work. 

 The direct application of nature-study to agri- 

 cultural education appears to have been started by 

 the Agricultural College of Cornell University. 

 This was in 1895 and 1896. This work is of a 

 true extension character, being conducted from the 

 university as a center, by means of lectures, 

 publications, correspondence, and the organizing 

 of pupils into clubs. It is advisory and propa- 

 gandic. Its object is to interest teachers and 

 pupils of the public schools in nature-study work 

 with special reference to the agricultural condi- 

 tions. The first necessity in the work proved to 

 be the need of instruction for the teacher; and 

 to meet this necessity special literature was pre- 

 pared in the form of "nature-study leaflets." 

 These are designed to inspire the teacher, to give 

 him point of view, to send him directly to nature 



