yiii PREFACE 



It is a good plan to have the children collect most of the 

 material, but the teacher should see to it that they do not 

 violate the property rights of others, unnecessarily destroy 

 plants, or treat animals with cruelty. For various reasons, 

 the writer cannot advocate animal dissection in common 

 schools. The only instruments required for plant dissec- 

 tion are a pin and a sharp knife. A small magnifying lens 

 would be valuable to the teacher. The pupils must not 

 use a book for this work during the lesson ; but some good 

 book on the subject could profitably be placed in the hands 

 of the older pupils for home reading, or for reviewing topics 

 studied in the class-room. That the teacher should not give 

 Nature Study lessons with an open book before her is self- 

 evident. 



It was not and could not be the writer's intention to lay 

 down a programme of Nature Study for any particular school 

 or schools. The term's programme in this work depends so 

 much on the seasons and on local conditions, that the mak- 

 ing of it should be left to the teacher, principal, or superin- 

 tendent. Nor is it the author's idea that any teacher 

 should rigidly adhere to the material and its arrangement 

 in any particular book. If, for instance, the mocking bird 

 is more common near your school than the robin, then 

 study the former instead of the latter. For the methods 

 of collecting a few plants, insects, and other material, teach- 

 ers are referred to the appendix. 



It is believed that the work laid out in this book will 

 furnish enough material for three or four school years of 

 nine months each, if two weekly lessons of about thirty 



