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it is the easiest thing in the world to get them interested in some 

 one particular plant. It is like their instinct for keeping pets. 

 The average boy' is not so much interested in dogs in general, — 

 in the way a grown-up lover of animals is apt to be. What he 

 cares particularly about is his dog Jack and in his mind all the 

 other dogs in the neighborhood are just plain dogs. 



If the object selected for study be some particular tree or 

 shrub, the next thing to do would be to get a picture of it and 

 hang it up in the classroom. If one of my pupils had a camera 

 I would have him take a photograph of it, or in lieu of that I 

 would have one of the pupils make a large drawing of it. At any 

 rate if I could not get the plant into the classroom, I would have 

 its picture there. 



Some may ra'se the objection: What concrete botanical object 

 can be found in the environment of a lower East Side high school 

 boy? What trees, for example? Let us see. A great many of 

 such boys go to either DeWitt Clinton or Commerce or Stuy- 

 vesant. None of them have trees or shrubs about their homes 

 and so far as I can recall there are none either near or on their 

 school grounds? But do you realize that DeWitt Clinton, situ- 

 ated as it is in one of the most congested and botanically unde- 

 sirable sections of the city, is only two blocks from Central Park 

 and many of the boys pass the park on their way home. Com- 

 merce also is but a short distance from the park. Ever>' other 

 high school that I can think of either has trees around it or has 

 one or more small parks in its neighborhood. If the high school 

 is in the suburbs or outskirts I would select a tree or shrub from 

 in front of a pupil's home. 



, But why begin with a tree? For one reason because it is large. 

 There is something about size or bigness that seems to appeal to 

 the average high school pupil. It is his idea of greatness or value. 

 Did you ever notice the smile or look of contempt that comes 

 over a boy's face the first time you hand him a bean to examine? 

 To him a bean is something to eat or to play with, but not to 

 study. It may be all right for elementary school pupils to raise 

 seeds in a cigar box, but not for him. 



Another reason for selecting the tree is that it is likewise the 



