50 NEW BRUNSWICK FORESTRY CONVENTION 



of co-operation on the part of parents and ratepayers, from neglect to en- 

 close the grounds and to assist the teacher by labor or team-work when 

 necessary. 



Having thus sketched what the schools have been aiming to do, permit 

 me to indicate briefly what more I think it possible to accomplish- and the- 

 proper method to pursue. 



1. In the first place let us keep in mind the age of the children attend- 

 ing our common schools from 6 to 14 or 15. Economic considerations do- 

 not at that age appeal to the young with permanent force : but the school 

 years are the years in which curiosity and imagination are the keenest. In- 

 awakening and cultivating an abidino- interest in our Forest Trees the 



o 0^5 



wonderful and the aesthetic rather than the Economic are the emotions to be 

 excited. The boy or girl is brought into the presence of a noble tree whose 

 spreading branches and towering height excite his admiration. Begin to- 

 speak of how many feet of lumber might be cut from its stately stem, and 

 how many dollars the lumber would bring in the market, and he shows in- 

 difference, if not dissatisfaction. He has not yet reached the age when the 

 Almighty Dollar is the strongest incentive to action. But when you lead him 

 to follow out the wonderful processes of vegetation which have produced 

 from a little seed this gigantic growth of the forces locked up in the soil 

 and atmosphere which operating silently and unobserved, without haste and 

 without rest, for scores a'nd hundreds of years, have by slow degrees covered 

 the earth with magnificent forests, you have awakened in the boy's mind and 

 heart ideas and emotions which will give direction to his studies for the re- 

 mainder of life. As he grows to manhood and enters upon the activities of 

 life the utilitarian and economic aspects of the study will be developed. 



Nature Study in the schools is yet in its incipient stages, but as our 

 teachers become better prepared for this work through special training, 

 richer results will follow their efforts. We are working in the right direc- 

 tion. With encouragement from parents and school officials much more will 

 b3 accomplished than we have been able to accomplish up to the present. 



One means of aiding in this work is to provide the teachers with accu- 

 rate information in regard to the forest resources of the Province, in regard 

 to the best methods of preventing destruction of our forests by tire, and the 

 most effective way of fighting the enemies of the trees in the form of paras- 

 ites. Books containing such information should be supplied free of expense 



