September 14, 1892. ' 



Garden and Forest. 



443 



shrubbery interestingf by its early flowers in spring-. 

 Sumachs make a good covering for banlvS, but IheStaKhorn 

 •Sumach is of too rank a growth to be planted with the shrubs 

 already mentioned. We have seen excellent effects pro- 

 duced by using together three native species with R. 

 typhina for the background, followed by R. copallina and 

 R. glabra. R. aromatica is well suited for planting on 

 banks. It is not easy to get satisfactory shrubs for this 

 region which keep their leaves late in autumn, but the 

 Privets are suitable for such a situation, while the showy- 

 fruited and almost evergreen Cratcegus pyracantha would 

 probably do well. Too great a variety is not advisable 

 where a quiet unobtrusive effect is desired, but Wild Roses 

 might be introduced among a planting of Cornels, Vibur- 

 nums and the like. 



Rosa Wichuriana, which has been frequently mentioned 

 in our columns, would probably prove a good plant for 

 covering the ground instead of the Periwinkle. It might 

 be used alone in covering a bank, or it will grow if planted 

 among tall shrubs, in which case many of the stems will 

 clamber up along the branches. It would very quickly 

 cover a bank in the climate of Long Island and would 

 prove practically evergreen. — Ed.] 



The Skimmia. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The Garden (London) of August 13th has an illustra- 

 tion of Skimmia fragrans, which shows a very attractive plant, 

 but the text does not give all the information concerning it 

 that is desired. I turn to Nicholson, and find under the 

 proper head : "A genus comprising half a dozen species of 

 pretty, hardy evergreen, highly glabrous shrubs, with green 

 branchlets, natives of the Himalayas and Japan. Flowers 

 whitish, clustered ; calyx short, four or five lobed ; petals four 

 or five, oblong, much longer than the calyx, valvate or loosely 

 imbricated, etc' The fruit of the species S. Japonica is de- 

 scribed as bright red in March. This account, taken in con- 

 nection with the article in The Garden, indicates an interest- 

 ing group of whicli but little is known. 



Newport, R. I. L- T>. Davis. 



[Trials of the Skimmias at the Arnold Arboretupi have 

 not proved them satisfactory plants there. Several forms 

 have been tested, but as yet they have shown themselves 

 rather too tender for the climate, in spite of winter protec- 

 tion. If they survive the winter, the blossoms are hurt by 

 spring frosts, and the showy fruit does not follow. We 

 observe that several nurserymen of the southern and 

 middle states advertise these plants, and \v& should be 

 obliged if any of our readers who have tried them will 

 give the results of their experience. — Ed.] 



Recent Publications. 



Nature Study, for the Common Schools. By Wilbur S. Jack- 

 man. Henry Holt & Company. 



The publication of this book and many others on kindred 

 topics is an evidence that the study of natural science is making 

 steady progress in our public schools and that kindergarten 

 methods are growing in favor among the better class of edu- 

 cators. Professor Jackman, however, has not made a text- 

 book in the ordinary sense of the word ; his work gives little 

 or no information on the subjects treated, advances no scien- 

 tific theories, makes no attempt to deduce scientific laws ; but 

 aims simply to show how one teacher awakened a love of 

 nature study in the pupils entrusted to his care by an intelli- 

 gent use of materials taken almost at random from Nature's 

 own workshop. In fact, the writer seems little troubled by 

 theories of any kind. He has no preconceived ideas as to the 

 proper order of development of the childish faculties, nor 

 does he advocate any formal or logical sequence of studies to 

 which everything must bend ; he merely notes the eager cu- 

 riosity with which the child examines every object in the world 

 about him ; that impartial interest which turns with equal zest 

 from the pebble at his feet to the rainbow in the sliy, and sup- 

 plying it with abundant materials for observation, he makes 

 its instinctive delight in the natural world a stepping-stone to 

 the development of the higher faculties. 



The introductory chapters treat of the motive for " Nature 

 Study," and the various modes of developing the child's 

 powers of expression, which should always go hand-in-hand 

 with tlie acquisition of knowledge, but the body of tlie Ijook 

 consists of a series of graded lessons in botany, zoology, 

 physics, chemistry, meteorology, astronomy, geography, 

 geology and mineralogy, the subject-matter of which is 

 adapted as far as possible to the changing seasons of the year. 

 As the school world begins in Septemlaer, it is the vegetable 

 and animal life of September, the September storms and the 

 September sky which the child is first called upon to notice, 

 and thus he learns to note in turn tlie peculiar influence of 

 eacli season upon all the world within his range of observa- 

 tion. These lessons consist chiefly of sets of questions stimu- 

 lating and suggestive enough to awaken interest even in chil- 

 dren of a larger growth, and, in the hands of an enthusiastic 

 teacher, they must make the hours spent in such study one long 

 delight. It is enough to fill one of the olden generation with 

 surprise, although not with amusement, as he reflects that, 

 according to modern theories, that part of his knowledge 

 whicli he can least afford to lose was acquired not while sit- 

 ting on hard benches in poring over lexicons and text-books, 

 but in the long stolen rambles over the hills, through sunny 

 meadows or by tempting brooks, every hour of which had the 

 exquisite flavor of forbidden fruit, and gained in charm from 

 the thought of the reprimand, and perhaps the punishment, in 

 store when the truant returned to the neglected duties of the 

 school-room. Whether the rambles and the birds-nesting, the 

 expeditions in search of fruit or nuts will not lose something 

 of their charm now that they are incorporated into the school 

 curriculum, is a question we leave to philosophers, but to the 

 layman there can be no doubt that a scheme of instruction 

 which recognizes and provides for the development of all the 

 faculties must in time produce a race of men and women 

 more fully equipped for the struggle of life, in which, accord- 

 ing to Darwin, the race is always to the swift and the battle to 

 the strong, than the time-honored system of our forefathers, 

 which regarded the alphabet as the key to all knowledge 

 worthy of the name. 



For the method of study set forth in this volume we have 

 only praise, but it may be questioned whether the motive to 

 which iVIr. Jackman seems to appeal in his effort to awaken a 

 love of nature is the highest that can be offered. It seems like 

 putting a premium upon one kind of selfishness to say that 

 the individual's own life is the centre of all his interest in the 

 world, and that how to prolong it should be the ulfimate aim 

 of his study. This is only partly true. The instinct of self- 

 preservation is so strong that every individual early learns to 

 adapt himself to his own environment, while the special 

 knowledge which has enabled man to control and direct the 

 forces of nature, and so enlarge the sphere of human activity, 

 has been gained by scientists who, through their long years of 

 toil, thought their own lives of little value in comparison with 

 the service they could render to their fellow-men. In the 

 study of science, as in all else, he who would seek to save his 

 own life must lose the higher joy, and a knowledge of Nature's 

 laws gained solely for this purpose will prove rather a snare 

 to its possessor, revealing, as it will, the thousand roads tliat 

 lead to the shadow from which he is trying to escape. 



Most of those who study science in our public schools are 

 doomed to lives of monotonous toil, beginning often before 

 the years of childhood are past. In these lives of toil self- 

 interest must be the prevailing motive. The knowledge the 

 pupils can gain in school must necessarily be limited, and can 

 go but a little way toward softening their hard conditions. The 

 true teacher, then, during the years in which the child is under 

 his care will strive to implant that impersonal love of nature 

 which lifts its possessor for the time above all sordid and ma- 

 terial interests, and gives him that refreshment of the spirit 

 which comes only when thought of self has been laid aside. 



Notes. 



We have observed several Kolreuteria trees near this city 

 which appear to be suffering from some blight. In one or 

 two cases nearly all the leaves have fallen to the ground. 



The Southern Liunberman takes a strong stand in favor of 

 the Paddock Bill for the establishment, protection and admin- 

 istrafion of public forest-reservations. It also states that the 

 suggestion in this paper of establishing a forest-reserve in the 

 southern AUeghanies is warmly seconded by the timbermen 

 of the south-eastern states. 



