STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 109 



and trunk up, and to spread out into the sunlit air the little leaves 

 that were born last summer in the darkened chamber at the apple's 

 heart. 



Under proper conditions this little germ would have repeated in 

 itself the history of its parent and perhaps some day it would have 

 sent its fruit to grace the exhibition tables of the society which 

 bears its name. I have told j^ou nothing new about the apple tree 

 and I did not expect to. I wished simply to direct your minds to 

 some of the interesting subjects for study that are presented to the 

 child in the observation of even one plant ; but if so much is writ- 

 ten in one plant what an immensity of knowledge awaits the learn- 

 ing in all the plants that grow about his home. And why should 

 not the school teacb him to learn of the things that are always with 

 him ? And what I say of plant study is equally true of all nature 

 study. 



Plant study is not only adapted to supply the knowledge needs 

 of the child but it is adequate for his mental development and the 

 exercise of all his powers. It interests him, busies his hands and 

 eyes, it cultivates the power of attention and observation and 

 through the intelligent direction of these, it gives clear ideas for 

 memory, imagination, judgment, reasoning and all the other facul- 

 ties of the mind. 



The material is easy to get and admirably adapted for collec- 

 tions. The knowledge that comes from it admits of systematic 

 arrangement, it interprets the sense perceptions, and gives imagin- 

 ation the ideas for seeing the world beyond his vision. The clear 

 ideas the child gets need names and so plant study increases his 

 vocabulary, just as his oral expression cultivates his facility of 

 speech and power of thought. He knows something and he wants 

 to tell it, and the telling of it in writing affords the natural oppor- 

 tunity for teaching him the use of capitals, punctuation, sentences, 

 paragraphs and all technical form of written language. He draws 

 the leaf, or the fruit or the parts of the flower, and thus gains 

 ideas of form as well as cultivates his power of expressing form. 

 Plant study cultivates his power to get knowledge first hand, a 

 power that he will need to use all his life, and it gives him ideas to 

 interpret his seeing and the language used in books. He enjoys it 

 while he is at school, it furnishes him with a pleasant pastime after 

 school life is over ; it brings him into sympathy with nature and 

 into possession of an inheritance that does not perish with the 

 usinsr. 



