246 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [3 : s-nov., 1907 



Nature-study should not be associated with the systematic teaching of 

 agriculture beyond the understanding of basic facts and principles of an 

 elementary character. These govern and control agriculture. Sub- 

 jects may be selected for nature-study which have direct bearing on the 

 every-day life and occupations of a farmer. Fruit trees, vegetables, food 

 plants, the injurious or beneficial insects and birds, the domestic animals, 

 the seasons, can all be drawn upon. Bailey, states "Every subject in 

 which men are interested can be put into pedagogic form, and be a means 

 of training the mind." 



It is not desirable or intended to teach the various operations associated 

 with agriculture in our public schools. The aim is to interest the child in 

 subjects intimately connected with daily home and farm life, to direct the 

 child's mind to them attractively, to lay the foundation of future training 

 either on the farm or in the agricultural college, to unfold natural science 

 and demonstrate its usefulness in its later application to the land, to super- 

 sede the distasteful and wearisome burdens of antiquated methods on the 

 farm. The affairs of common life are now so intermixed with applied 

 science that our teachers in country schools should in the best interests of 

 their pupils be in constant and practical sympathy with this form of teach- 

 ing." [Notes from an address by H. W. Potts, Principal of the Hawkesbury 

 Agricultural College, Australia.] 



Bumble-Bees for Phillipines. A consignment of these insects has been 

 sent by the Department of Agriculture. They are needed to pollinate the 

 red clover which is being introduced. 



New Bird Reservations. In August, President Roosevelt ordered a new 

 reservation for protection of native birds at the mouths of the Mississippi. 

 \Bird-hore?^ 



Starlings. In Bird-Lore for October our new bird citizen, the European 

 Starling, receives much attention from bird students, who are noting with 

 concern its rapid spread from the original point of introduction in New 

 York City. Already the bird is believed to be beyond control, and the 

 question arises whether we have not here another English-Sparrow problem 

 on our hands. 



Equine and Canine Meat. There were slaughtered and consumed in 

 Germany during the year 1906, 182,000 horses and 7,000 dogs. In Saxony 

 alone, which embraces one-thirty-sixth of the area, and one-thirteenth of 

 the population of the Empire, 12,922 horses and 3,736 dogs were butchered. 

 These numbers represent the animals merely that passed official inspection. 

 There is an enormous amount of illegal, unregistered slaughtering being 

 carried on. The traffic is on the increase. The 182,000 horses slaughtered 

 in 1906, represented an increase over 1905 of 20,000, and over 1904 of 

 47,000. The increase in the consumption of dogs is correspondingly rapid. 

 The German press gives full publicity to the traffic. Throughout the 

 Empire, especially in the large cities, the newspapers advertise horseflesh 

 delicacies ( ?) as freely as they do the old-fashioned delicatessen. Dog-flesh 

 is not quite so widely advertised, although it is not wholly neglected by the 

 clever advertiser's art. [Good Health.] 



