Individual Exercises for the Fall Term 



Five studies follow, whieli arc intended to be used by the 

 student, individually, and at his own convenience. The data 

 called for may be picked u]) during the course of walks afield 

 for air and exercise; but serial or extended obser\ations, 

 that cannot all be made in the course of a sinpjle class exercise, 

 are in all cases demanded. Persomil initiative is desired. 

 An instructor ma}- be asked to name plants or animals, but 

 the student should learn by these exercises to consult nature 

 inde])endcntly. He should work alone, or with not more 

 than one or two com]janions. A good idea of the continuity 

 of nature's processes and of her limitless perseverence in 

 carr\'ing them forward can be gained only by oft-repeated 

 serial obser\'ations. 



Optional Study 1. A Student's Record of Farm Operations 



It is the object of this study to discover how the fanner as 

 an organism fits his environment. The student may learn 

 that there is a natural history of the farmer as well as of the 

 farm. He may see that the fanner's affairs, commercial, 

 civic, social, and religious, all have their seasons, even as 

 leaves have their time to fall ; that light and temperature and 

 rainfall condition his activities, as they do the growth and the 

 labors of his plant and animal associates. 



The work of this study will consist of weekly obscr\'ations 

 extending through the tenn or year. In such a table as is 

 indicated on the next page, there is to be provided one column 

 for the observations of each week. The student will need to 

 be so situated that he may readily observe week by week 

 what the fanners are doing; else he would better omit this 

 study, for secondhand information is not desired. 



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