63 



would take up respiration, transpiration, photosynthesis, etc. 

 But how would I get enough leaves from a city tree to supply 

 all of my classes, especially when there is a park ordinance against 

 picking leaves? I would not try to get them from the city tree. 

 I would get them in the country during vacation time or on 

 Saturday' or Sunda\'. That. I do not think, is too much to do 

 for one's subject. 



How are we to teach the vital processes? Are we to rig up a 

 set of apparatus on one of the park trees for the wonder and 

 admiration of the passing throng? Not at all. I would demon- 

 strate the dififerent functions in the classroom with the same 

 materials and apparatus that I always use, but I would refer 

 everything to our chief object of study and constantly remind 

 the class that they were observing not only what trees in general 

 are doing, but also what one tree in particular was doing in order 

 to keep itself alive. 



What about the flowers and fruit of a city tree? That seems 

 an almost unsurmountable obstacle but it is not. Its ver^' 

 difificulty gives zest to its solution. If the average city person 

 knew that oaks and elms had flowers and fruit he would pay 

 little attention to it. But the element of surprise that strikes 

 him upon first being made aware of the fact first excites 

 curiosity, then arouses interest and finally holds his attention. 

 It is not the entirely new that arrests our attention, nor the 

 completely familiar; it is rather the one in connection with the 

 other. It is the old in the midst of the new, as when a traveler 

 hears his own language in a foreign country — or the novel in 

 the midst of the customary — as when we hear a strange tongue 

 spoken in our own country — that attracts attention. 



But to get back to the flowers: I would not attempt to teach 

 them at all directly. I would have a chart or drawing of the 

 flowers of that particular tree or shrub. But I would give a 

 complete set of lessons on the most available flower, I could get 

 at that time of the year, but as with the leaves I would constantly 

 refer them to our main object, the tree. 



The fruit I would treat in the same way, using the tree's own 

 fruit if available; if not, then some common fruit in its stead. 



