10 



crayons, showing the appearance of cones and branches, as 

 well as detail drawings of the leaves upon a larger scale. 



The evergreens may be used to great advantage in bringing 

 the pupils into direct contact with real things in nature. The 

 material is so easily obtained, and in such abundance, that 

 there is no excuse for adopting the mere question and answer 

 method in vogue in many of our schools. Give the pupils 

 twigs, or at leas.t bundles of leaves, and if possible cones, and 

 let them use their discriminating powers in sorting the speci- 

 mens as to species. Let them 'see for themselves the dis- 

 tinctive characters of each, and in the higher grades let them 

 determine the species by reference to illustrated tree books. 

 Then let them make careful drawings of the twigs or leaves 

 and cones of each species, being sure that they know the name 

 while they are making the drawings. Part of the drawings 

 at least should be made with a lead pencil, securing as great' 

 a degree of accuracy as is possible, but some of them should 

 be made with green and brown pencil crayons, by means of 

 which very attractive pictures may be obtained. In the 

 upper grades it may also be worth while to use water colors 

 for some of the drawings. 



The importance of blackboard drawings by the pupils, 

 especially in the grades above the fourth, can hardly be over- 

 estimated. These are especially valuable for the memory 

 drawing, and in the case of the evergreens, through the use 

 of green and brown crayons, the great advantage of colors 

 that simulate the actual plants may be utilized. 



Very beautiful Van Dyke solar prints may be made of 

 many of the evergreens. Examples are shown in the accom- 

 panying illustrations of the arbor vitse and the white pine. 



In addition to the drawings the pupils may use the same 

 specimens for language work, which shall -take the form of 

 short essays in which the chief characteristics of the speci- 

 mens are described. The length and completeness of these 

 descriptions will of course vary with the development of the 

 pupil, but something worth while may be done in any grade 

 above the fourth. These written exercises should be upon 

 paper the same size as the drawing paper. Dictation exer- 

 cises may also be given, using poems and prose selections 

 treating of the various evergreens. 



