BABCXKK] XATURE STUDY AXD GARBAGE 99 



schools, city and country alike. Xor about the emotional attitudes 

 toward farming agricultural instruction should cultivate. It was 

 merely mv purpose to call your attention to some of the more 

 fundamental considerations. In connection with the considera- 

 tions and principles outlined in this paper, it is well to remember 

 that all the efforts towards the introduction of agriculture are 

 but a part of a larger movem.ent in education. It is our busi- 

 ness to catch the spirit of this larger movement in education which 

 is trying to adjust our education to a progressive civilization, a 

 movement in which true culture expresses itself in real service 

 to humanity. 



Nature-Study and the "Garbage Barrel" 



Ernest B. Babcock. 

 University of California. 



A we^iern journal of education is publishing a series of ar- 

 ticles from California educators on ''Contributions to the Educa- 

 tional Garbage Barrel." From the standpoint of one actively in- 

 terested in teaching nature-study and agriculture in our public 

 schools, the educational garbage barrel is an alluring subject. 

 It is still a difficult matter to arrange for two hours per week 

 out of the regular sessions for such intrinsically valuable work as 

 gardening, while nature-study as a subject is not yet incorpor- 

 ated as a vital part of our school life. I believe in nature-study 

 for the lower grades and nature-study-agriculture for the upper 

 elementary grades, with gardening as a basic activity throughout 

 the whole. But. alas, we are always confronted by the "already 

 overcrowded curriculum.'' I must confess to a lively curiosity, 

 therefore, to know the opinion of others as to what can profit- 

 ably be eliminated from the other subjects. 



We must be willing to make some concessions in an effort 

 of this sort, so I will leave the decision as to the relative merits 

 of partial payments and participial infinitives to those who are 

 more competent to choose or eliminate. Agriculture as a sub- 

 ject for the seventh or eighth grade gives promise of future value. 

 "Xature-Study leading to Agriculture" is authorized as an oral 

 subject by the State Law of California, but the nearest approx- 

 imation we yet have to this fortunately worded combination is 

 foimd in the scattered efforts to teach nature-study on the one 

 hand and the reading of siTpplementary agriculture texts on the 



