PLANTS AND OURSELVES q 



the city. To those who are interested in nature and 

 understand her ways, life in the country is the most agree- 

 able of all kinds of life. The farm boy who learns the ways 

 of plants and animals finds more to interest him on the 

 farm than he does anywhere else. 



So, through knowledge of plants, something may be 

 gained which makes the world, wherever we go, a far more 

 interesting place than it was before. We gain something 

 that gives every acre of ground and every plant growing 

 on it a new meaning for us. We gain something that 

 makes us enjoy finding out the names and habits of all 

 the plants we meet; we wish to become personally ac- 

 quainted with them and to watch their changes through the 

 seasons. We gain something that makes us see in a grove 

 of trees or in a field of corn things that we did not see 

 before — things that change the trees and the corn to us ; 

 we see them with new eyes ; their growth and their behavior 

 become matters of the greatest interest; we know that 

 they have a history just as we have a history and that as 

 we keep changing so they too keep changing. This some- 

 thing that we gain may be called appreciation of nature, 

 and those who possess it are very fortunate, for there is 

 nothing in the world that is more certain to make their 

 lives enjoyable. They can find pleasure in watching even 

 a dusty patch of weeds, while woods and fields have for 

 them a meaning like fine music. 



You yourself in your study of nature in school can begin 

 to get this thing which we have called the appreciation of 

 nature, and the sooner you get it the more it will be worth 

 to you. It is one of the finest things in life, and the study 

 of plants, if you are truly interested in them, can lead you 

 straight to it. 



