226 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



more what nature means in the advancement of good 

 citizenship. 



Mr. G. M. Whitaker (of Boston). I have been very 

 much interested in this address and the discussion following- 

 it, which will be an extremely valuable addition to the agri- 

 cultural literature which the secretary of the Board of Agri- 

 culture advances from year to year. In my sphere of life I 

 have given some attention to nature study in the schools. 

 What I have done in the shape of reading in the work of 

 the schools has been of a very superficial nature, but so far 

 as my slight chance for observation has gone, I have not 

 found anything quite so bad as those text books, and I want 

 to ask the lecturer if there really is much teaching done in 

 the schools of Massachusetts quite as bad as would be indi- 

 cated by those books? 



Dr. Hodge. Massachusetts, I think, and I intended to 

 speak of that, has the best system of leaflets ; and that is a 

 question that many of the agricultural citizens are taking 

 up. These leaflets have all some meaning in them, not 

 simply pretty studies to kill time, but to bring the children 

 out knowing something about the insects, or the fungi, or 

 the plants around their homes, and they bring them out 

 with the idea of doing something. I have not found in 

 Massachusetts much teaching as bad as those books, but I 

 have found a great deal that comes pretty close to it. I go 

 into a school and try to find out what they are doing with 

 nature study ; and if I had time I could give you several 

 illustrations right in Massachusetts something like this : The 

 teacher said, "Children, what is a hymcnoptera insect?" 

 And she had a picture of a honey bee on a black-board, — 

 not a particle of honey or a bee or a wasp in the room, but 

 a picture on the board of a bee. Well, the children men- 

 tioned over some hymcnoptera insects, — a bee and a wasp 

 and ants. " Into how many parts is the body of a hymenop- 

 tera insect divided ? " " Three parts." " "What is the name 

 of those parts? " " Head, thorax and abdomen." kk How 

 many parts docs the head contain?" "What are those 

 parts? " ik The head, the eves and the antenna 1 or feelers." 

 ♦'And what other parts?" None of the children knew. 



