128 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [12:3— Mch., 1916 



free from scraps of paper and other debris. The value of this 

 lies not alone in the fact these youthful citizens have accomp- 

 lished the bit of civic work that they set out to do, but through 

 it they are establishing habits of care and thoughtfulness with 

 reference to the public property; they are developing the right 

 sort of civic pride and responsibility that ought to mean some- 

 thing worthwhile when they become voting citizens a few years 

 hence. 



There is another value that I think may come with gardening 

 as well as with other phases of nature study, and that is the aes- 

 thetic. This is not so apparent in the lives of children as the other 

 values we have discussed. But those who work with children, 

 occasionally catch encouraging glimpses of it. We can meas- 

 ure the bushels of potatoes that a boy raises in his garden. We 

 can count the money that a child receives for his radishes or oni- 

 ons. We can see an orderly garden or a clean, vine-bedecked 

 alley but there is no way to measure or to make visible the subtle 

 influence that may come to the soul of a child in this intimate 

 contact with plant life. We do not know how much inspiration 

 he gets from this creative exercise that may induce him always 

 to put forth effort for human good. We can not tell to what extent 

 the colors of his flowers, the artistic arrangement of shrubs, vines 

 and trees may deepen into a permanent appreciation for beauty 

 in fields, woods and roadsides, as well as in- home surroundings. 



We can not tell, yet we believe, that along with the other 

 values some of the children as they spade and hoe, as they plant 

 and harvest will sow other seeds that will develop into an abid- 

 ing interest in the out-of doors, a calm appreciation for the beau- 

 ty of the landscape. 



A Grasshopper's Early Life 



Walter K. Putney. 



Quite often, if you are to look for them, you will find grass- 

 hoppers resting for long periods on the ground and you wonder 

 what they are doing. They seem to be partly buried in the 

 ground. These are the females laying their eggs in little holes 

 in the ground — a very curious place, you may think, for a young 

 grasshopper to commence his life struggle. 



