43 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



problems found later is undoubtedly due 

 to this disheartening primary work. 

 Here again the child who begins arith- 

 metic at eight or ten years of age finds 

 himself able to take it up quickly and 

 has the liking for it that easy mastery 

 always gives." Nature work, on the 

 other hand, " offers wonderfully interest- 

 ing and valuable material for awakening 

 the intellectual activities of childhood, 

 and while its material for study and de- 

 scription is unlimited, its demand upon 

 the child may be perfectly adapted to 

 his power of observation. We must re- 

 member that physical activity is the su- 

 preme factor in the development of the 

 child." This means spontaneous play 

 under favorable conditions, not " that 

 nervously exhausting and deadening 

 drill known as the Swedish gymnastics, 

 which . . . adds fatigue to fatigue, by 

 taking the initiative away from the child 

 and forcing him to pay constant atten- 

 tion to the orders of the teacher." As to 

 discipline, " the child is self-disciplined 

 when he is held to his work by the reflex 

 attention of interest. This can always 

 be secured when the work is adapted to 

 hia grasp, when he has the sense of power 

 which comes with easy conquest, when 

 he is not exhausted by the imposition of 

 a sequence logical to the adult mind but 

 meaningless to him, when his attention 

 is not dulled by a demand for attention 

 continued beyond a physiological limit." 



Beautifying the Home Grounds. 

 The Horticultural Division of the Cor- 

 nell University Agricultural Experiment 

 Station has been making efforts during 



the past few years, under the auspices of 

 the agricultural extension work, to im- 

 prove the surroundings of rural houses, 

 a part of which consists in the publica- 

 tion of bulletins giving hints as to how 

 improved conditions and simple adorn- 

 ments may be obtained without great ex- 

 pense. One of these indicates as one of 

 the means of making the home attract- 

 ive and " keeping the boy on the farm " 

 the brightening of the place with flow- 

 ers. Assuming that the main planting of 

 any place should be of trees and shrubs, 

 the flowers are then used as decorations. 

 They may be thrown in freely about the 

 borders of the place, but not in beds in 

 the center of the lawn. They show off 

 better when seen against a background, 

 which may be foliage, a building, a rock, 

 or a fence. " Where to plant flowers is 

 really more important than what to 

 plant. In front of bushes, in the corner 

 by the steps, against the foundation of 

 the residence or outhouse, along a fence 

 or walk these are places for flowers. A 

 single petunia plant against a back- 

 ground of foliage is worth a dozen simi- 

 lar plants in the center of the lawn. . . . 

 The open-centered yard, may be a pic- 

 ture; the promiscuously planted yard 

 may be a nursery or a forest. A little 

 color scattered in here and there puts a 

 finish to the picture. A dash of color 

 gives spirit and character to the brook 

 or pond, to the ledge of rocks, to the old 

 stump, or to the pile of rubbish." The 

 flower garden, if there is one, should be 

 at one side of the residence or at the 

 rear, " for it is not allowable to spoil a 

 good lawn even with flowers." 



MINOR PARAGRAPHS. 



OP the twelve genera and fifty spe- 

 cies of known North American frogs 

 and toads, Mr. William L. Sherwood 

 says, in his paper in the Proceedings of 

 the Linnsean Society, New York, that 

 five genera and fifty species are found 

 in the vicinity of New York city. Some 

 of these are less secretive in habit than 

 salamanders, and therefore much better 

 known. As ponds and ditches have 

 been drained, the aquatic forms have 

 removed to greater distances from hu- 

 man dwellings, and only the more ter- 

 restrial toad and arboreal tree frogs 

 have remained. All of our species have 



been described, but the author believes 

 that the first mention of the cricket 

 frog being found in this region is in a 

 paper on salamanders, read by him in 

 1895. The breeding habits of these ani- 

 mals vary, but all lay their eggs in 

 water or moist places. The purely am- 

 phibious and really aquatic species are 

 three. Of the other eight species, one 

 is burrowing, five tend to be terrestrial, 

 inhabiting the woods and fields, and 

 two are arboreal. The eggs are laid in 

 gelatinous envelopes, which swell after 

 leaving the adult. At the time of hatch- 

 ing the young tadpole has three pairs 



