Cl)e Audubon ^ocfctic« 



SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by ALICE HALL WALTER 



Address all communications relative to the work of this depart- 

 ment to the Editor, at 53 Arlington Avenue, Providence, R. I. 



Conservation of Home Resources 

 A Bird and Arbor Day Suggestion 



WHEN the school-tax is paid, the average citizen considers his duty 

 done for the ensuing year so far as schools are concerned. But how 

 much is really given to our teachers and pupils? Are up-to-date 

 school-buildings, free text-books and other material equipment sufficient to 

 lift school-life to the plane which we take pride in beheving our schools have 

 reached, or ought to have reached? It is a true but singularly significant fact 

 that, with all the money and effort now expended to educate the children of 

 this land, very little has yet been done to bring them into vital touch with the 

 world in which they live. 



Visit a few schools in your neighborhood. Talk with teachers. Talk with 

 pupils. It may be a surprise to find boys and girls of high-school training, fitted 

 for college, who know almost nothing about trees or plants, or any other living 

 organisms, outside of domesticated animals. 



Just why reading, writing and arithmetic are so much more important than 

 the study of nature need not be discussed here. The point to be emphasized is 

 the immensely valuable home resources in every locality, which it is the duty not 

 only of the taxpayer, but of the Audubon Society and reliable people generally, 

 to help our teachers and pupils to discover and conserve. 



Every one is supposed to take a lively interest nowadays in the conservation 

 of national resources. Why not shift the center of interest to the conservation 

 of home resources? 



A logical and practical beginning may be made by seeing, first, that each 

 school has a school-garden; and, second, that each school-garden is managed as 

 a part of the nation's resources. How can a boy who grows up without any 

 first-hand knowledge of tree-planting and horticulture be expected to conserve 

 forests, of whose place in nature and value to man he knows little or nothing? 



How can any child who is unfamiliar with the animals, birds, plants, insects, 

 rocks, soils and water-powers of its own home neighborhood, develop into a 

 progressive citizen with respect to the proper use of these resources? 



The opportunity is now before us to redeem the past by giving to this day 

 and generation the chance to work out the problem of conserving natural 

 resources. Of all days in the school-calendar, Bird and Arbor Day is the most 

 appropriate for beginning such a work. 



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