74 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 



classes referred to simply represented that which was most 

 favorable for the place and most familiar to the instructor. 



Therefore every teacher of nature study is earnestly 

 advised to select some particular subject and to become 

 thoroughly acquainted with it. It may be wild plants, or 

 trees, or birds, or different groups of insects, or fish, or 

 reptiles, or domestic animals, or cultivated plants, or plant 

 communities, or any of the score of subjects that might 

 be mentioned, but let it be a choice thoughtfully made and 

 persistently followed. This may bring a definite prefer- 

 ence for a certain kind of material in teaching, but this 

 will not hurt; it is far better than no preference at all. We 

 have any number of teachers of biology, but not one of 

 them is good who is not biased either as a botanist or a 

 zoologist, and his work shows it. The same thing is true 

 of teachers of nature study; for the good ones show a 

 decided preference for certain kinds of material — a prefer- 

 ence that is determined by familiarity. 



Also this following of a specialty is more certain than 

 any other method to arouse a real and abiding interest in 

 nature, for such interest is quite sure to accompany the 

 acquirement of a precise and somewhat thorough knowl- 

 edge of any particular field. What field is chosen matters 

 not at all. As depth of knowledge of nature is acquired 

 one passes through essentially the same rich experiences 

 whatever the field. 



