66 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918 



ground. Use white beach sand for roads. A mirror makes a clear 

 lake with reflecting surface. Glass over a blue surface gives the 

 effect of a large sheet of water. Animals may be represented by- 

 plasticine models. Use cardboard for buildings. Such equipment 

 may be used to illustrate many things, as : The yards of a tidy 

 family and of an untidy family ; a railroad station with well-kept 

 grounds; a practical school ground that is beautiful ; a miniature 

 rockery, etc. 



(3). Forestry. For teaching the value of a forest the Forestry 

 Bureau has suggested some such scheme as this: Make a fairly 

 good sized sand-hill. Cover one side with moss to represent the 

 leaf mould beneath the forest. Use twigs of cedar, etc., for the 

 forest. Pour water from a watering-pot onto the hill and note 

 that erosion takes place on the side that has been deforestated. 

 The rapid run off not only washes away the rich soil but would 

 cause floods. These conditions are unfavorable to navigation and 

 to manufacturing. Some of the readers may be interested in two 

 other methods of raising plants, perhaps more of a novel than a 

 practical idea. The wandering Jew may be grown in a test tube of 

 water tied to the curtain string. Cotton batting stuffed loosely 

 in the mouth of the tube will prevent too rapid evaporation of the 

 water. Conch-shell flower pots give an interesting variety to the 

 window-shelf. The use of the egg shell for seedlings is described 

 in Comstock's Handbook of Nature-Study. 



12. Written Papers. Nature-study is one subject which may 

 serve to extend the period of the child's writing and drawing 

 because he enjoys it. One method of killing this natural pleasure 

 is to spread red ink on poorly constructed sentences and mis- 

 spelled words, and to point out defects in the drawings. I mention 

 this for fear of the misuse of the following scheme. In the concen- 

 trated curriculum of the normal school, especially with city bred 

 girls who have had no nature work, and many of whom never saw 

 a "pollywog" or "mushrat" I have hesitated in altogether carry- 

 ing out what seems ideal. To facilitate the correction of labora- 

 tory work I have a series of rubber stamps which read: Make 

 lines definite ; label all parts; follow directions, etc. I give them 

 a copy of the rubber stamp readings in the beginning and tell them 

 that my experience has shown the following mistakes so common 

 that I have had rubber stamps made to save time in correcting 

 papers. A few periods result in the almost total disappearance of 



