No. 4.] NATURE STUDY. 219 



sand dollars ; and that he can be led to do this without com- 

 pulsion or drudgery, with only such exercise in the fresh 

 air as he needs, and without trenching on his school hours 

 or on the time he ought to have for play and recreation. 

 In the end, he will have solidity of character, regard for 

 the dignity of labor, sincere respect for property rights of 

 others, which every member of a republic should possess. 

 By having grown naturally into its responsibilities, he will 

 be the better able to found a home of his own. 



By means of the school garden we may reach and reju- 

 venate homes from which garden lore has lapsed, or is in 

 its last stages of decadence. Had you been able to watch 

 for the past four years, as I have done, a little experiment 

 of this kind, I am sure you would feel, as I do, that such 

 work should be made a part of the nature study of every 

 school in the Commonwealth. The experiment consisted in 

 taking a package of flower seeds into a school, some time in 

 March, and in asking the children how many would like to 

 take a few seeds, and see who can raise the best plants. 

 Prizes for the three best plants in each room were ofl'ered ; 

 and, in a neighborhood where the children are honest (I 

 should say where the parents are honest) , this feature en- 

 livens the work, and I have no objections to it, but prizes 

 are not essential. I know it would do your hearts good 

 to see how the children go into a game of this kind. At 

 first one or two hung back, but for the past three years 

 every child in the school of about four hundred pupils took 

 the seeds and tried to rear the plants. Each child promises 

 to take the sole care of his plant, and to bring in his result, 

 whatever it may be, for the flower show at the end of the 

 term. 



The first year we did not tell the children what kind of 

 seeds were given them, — simply in order to quicken their 

 curiosity, and set them to guessing and studying. The 

 result was that we had at the end of the term a most beauti- 

 fully grown collection of weeds. In the highest grade, to 

 which petunia seeds had been distributed, the children had 

 nothing but weeds, — not a petunia plant anywhere to be 

 seen. I confess my first feeling was one of chagrin, espe- 



