20 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



insect species, inconspicuous and uninteresting in itself, 

 like the San Jose scale or the codling moth, has the power 

 to destroy or cripple the fruit industry of the entire coun- 

 try. Another, like the gipsy moth, can possibly strip the 

 continent, periodically at least, of its forests, and others, 

 for example the Hessian fly or chinch bug, hold in their 

 power the wheat crops of large sections of the country. 

 Practical knowledge in this field stimulates interest in birds 

 and other insectivorous animals, and we have a foundation 

 from which to study their work in the economy of nature. 

 Fungous and microbic diseases of plants, animals, and 

 man are other important topics of recent development 

 which must be handled with discretion, but about which 

 the public should have intelligent information. It is need- 

 less to multiply illustrations. My point is that nature 

 study, or elementary science, for the public school ought 

 to be all for sure human good. We must winnow our 

 science of chaff and by careful selection fill the limited 

 time with the best knowledge the experience of the race 

 and modern science has to offer. 



Esthetic. After the necessities of life are secured, man 

 has instinctively turned toward the beautiful to completd 

 his satisfaction in nature. ( Flower culture is an ancient 

 line of human interest. Possibly nothing in modern times 

 equals the hanging gardens of Babylon. Here we must 

 turn for real education on the aesthetic side to the creation 

 of the beautiful in nature and not content ourselves with 

 talking about it or with passive enjoyment. Nature study 

 should thus fill and surround our homes and schoolhouses 

 with the most beautiful things attainable and instill the 

 spirit of creating and preserving the natural beauties of 



