34— ■ THE PSYCHOLOGY 



"Of all beasts lie learned the language, 

 Learned their names, and jdl their secrets, 

 How the beavers built their lodges. 

 Where the squirrels hid their acorns, 

 Mow the reindeer ran so swiftly. 

 Why the rabbit was so timid, 

 Talked with them, when e'er he met them. 

 CfiHed them, Hiawatha's brothers." 



Here was an ideal teacher of nature. There was no dissecting but an 

 interest in what they did. 



By some such simple method, the child should, in the course of an ordinary 

 school life, become ticquainted with the names of all ourconimon trees and plants. 

 As soon as he is able, he should note likenesses and differences, beginning- with 

 the grosser and gradually extending to the finer details, but the teacher must 

 keep within the limits of inteiest, direct his efforts, yet see that knowledge is 

 acquired through his Own self-activity. Classification into orders, genera, and 

 species, should be left for advanced public school work or for introduction to high 

 school work. 



While becoming acquainted with the names of trees and plants, quite 3'oimg- 

 pupils can begin systematic work which requires only keen eyes and an interested 

 mind to accomplish. They should note where the plants grow ; the kind of soil; 

 the color, etc., and prepare lists of plants Jiccording to habitat : 



Plants growing in water, sagittaria, eel grass ; plants growing in sandy soil, 

 clotbur, evening- primrose ; plants g-rowing in woods, lily, anemone. 



If such work as this is begun in a second form and continued throughout the 

 school course, the child would have a store of information about plants which 

 would be of the g^reatest value, whatever his future might be. 



Another line ot work, similar in nature, is grouping plants according to time 

 of flowering;, at first by seasons, then bj- months, and later by definite limiting^ 

 dates, showing earliest and latest appearance in bloom. 



As a guide to teachers, and as an indication of the work that might be done 

 by the pupil in the course of seven or eight years, a list of common plants is given 

 in the appendix, grouped according to habitat and color of flowers, with the time 

 of flowering indicated by figures, denoting the month, and letters denoting the 

 seasons. 



The study of plants so far, in the schools of Canada, has been almost entirely 

 limited to minute descriptions of individual plants with a view to their exact classifi- 

 cation. While this work is quite in place for the advanced student, it is quite unsuit- 

 edtothe younger classes. Furthermore, thebasisof classification hasbeen the flower 

 to the exclusion of the leaf. As the latter is a much more permanent part of the 

 plant than the flower, a classification based upon it has many advantages. In 

 any case children should be trained to recognize plants by their leaves and 

 general appearance, so that they can gather them at any time during the season 

 and examine them. 



After a class has once learned to know a plant, it should be collected at 

 regular intervals, say every month, and its development and changes noted. The 

 im[)ortance of such examination may be seen in the case of the dandelion, which 

 immediately after flowering season should be examined daily, until the fruit is 



