210 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [10:6— Sept., 1914 



the sky in shades of blue or gray, and the lower representing sea- 

 sonal conditions successively in dark green for September vegeta- 

 tion, brown in October with dashes of red and yellow for the 

 variously colored shrubbery, "meadows brown and sere," in 

 November, white in the winter months, and a fresh green in spring. 

 From the standpoint of the teacher, this is one set of many exer- 

 cises in gaining technic ; from that of the pupil, it is painting the 

 country, that is, landscape, remembering of course that children of 

 the first and second grades think in terms of the things that make 

 up landscape rather than in terms of the unity itself. So with 

 sunshine charts for a few days when drawn off or copied from the 

 progressive monthly calendar on the blackboard, the variously 

 tinted rectangles have a differing aim for teacher and pupil. 



It must seem evident to any one that the least important thing 

 is to set off certain schopl activities in the program and dub them 

 "nature-study." Too often such a course defeats its own end. 



Nature- Study in Our City Parks 



Norman E. Nelson 



Rockford, Illinois, has, perhaps, one of the best park systems 

 for nature-study that one could wish. Of the three largest parks. 

 Fairgrounds (twenty-four and one-half acres) is best adapted for 

 the study of cultivated plants, shrubs, and trees; Black Hawk 

 Park (eighty acres) for geology, birds, wild flowers, native shrubs, 

 and trees; Sinnissippi Park (one hundred twenty-three acres) for 

 trees and birds. 



In Black Hawk Park we have about forty-five species of trees, 

 over half of which are native. For the most part, at least one tree 

 (often two or three) of each species is labeled. The Nature-Study 

 Society placed the labels which were provided by the Park Board. 

 The labels are of zinc, about four by two and one-half inches, 

 painted white. The lettering is sunken, using a metal die, and 

 finished in black. The scientific name is at the top, common 

 name at the bottom. They are fastened securely to the tree with 

 two nails. The contrast of black and white renders the labels 

 readable at over fifty feet. Labeling has also been done in the 

 two other large parks. 



Native shrubs make a fine showing in Black Hawk. Among the 

 fifteen species we have the leather-wood {Dirca palustris L.), which 



