NATURE STUDY ON THE TIME-TABLE. 23 



public, even among farmers, will fail, for some years to come, 

 to understand the educational value of school-gardens and 

 excursions ; and not every teacher at the start will know how 

 to use them to educational account. But groundless opposition 

 to them will be disarmed by taking time for them wholly or 

 in considerable part outside of the regular school hours. The 

 competent and tactful teacher will deservedly increase his 

 popularity by and through this nature work. The writer knows 

 of an instance where the trustees and teacher at re-engaging 

 time could not agree on the salary to be paid. Some of the 

 ratepayers on hearing of the disagreement petitioned the 

 trustees to retain the teacher's services and offered to make 

 up the difference in salary on the ground that " she is the first 

 teacher we ever had who makes useful lessons on things the 

 children do at home." 



Usually there will be several subjects under concurrent 

 observation. In a certain school, on the second Tuesday of 

 September, the half-hour's work from 11.30 to 12 noon com- 

 prised reports of observations on the differences between the 

 ' prop ' roots and the ' stay ' roots of Indian corn and on the 

 differences between the two kinds of flowers on the pumpkin 

 vines ; third, on the apparent distance and direction the moon 

 had moved from 8 p.m. on Friday until 8 p.m. on Monday, and 

 fourth, the study of the structure and action of a small pump 

 that one of the boys had made. The lesson on the moon, 

 namely, discovering by observation the time and direction of 

 its revolution around the earth, would likely extend over two 

 or three months ; the recitations would occupy but a minute 

 or two per day during the time the moon was conveniently 

 observable. Receiving observations made outside of school- 

 hours, discussing them and assigning new ones, will usually 

 occupy a considerable part of the Nature Study half-hour. 

 The correlated reading, composition, arithmetic, drawing and 

 color work, should be taken at the times regularly allotted to 

 these subjects. 



