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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



mother -tongue — if they will estimate the amount of that experience of 

 life, that out-of-school wisdom which every boy gathers for himself . . . 

 they will find it a not unreasonable conclusion that, if the subjects be put 

 before him in the right order and right form, any pupil of ordinary 

 capacity will surmount his successive difficulties with but little 

 assistance. . . . Passing on to object-lessons, which manifestly form 

 a natural continuation of this primary culture of the senses, it is to be 

 remarked that the system commonly pursued is wholly at variance with 

 the method of Nature as exhibited alike in infancy, in adult life, and in 

 the course of civilisation. ... To tell a child this, and to show it the 

 other, is not to teach it how to observe, but to make it a mere recipient 

 of another's observations. . . . Object-lessons should not only be carried 

 on after quite a different fashion from that commonly pursued, but 

 should be extended to a range of things far wider and continued to a 

 period far later than now. They should not be limited to the contents 

 of the house, but should include those of the fields and the hedges, the 

 quarry and the seashore. They should not cease with early childhood, 

 but should be so kept up during youth as insensibly to merge into the 

 investigations of the naturalist and the man of science." 



In these extracts from Herbert Spencer are to be found the guiding 

 principles of the Nature-study movement, the object of which can even be 

 defined in Herbert Spencer's own words as being the encouragement of 

 that " instinctive inclination which every child shows to observe natural 

 beauties and investigate natural phenomena." 



The first eulogy on things is expressed in the words, " He saw that 

 they were good." How many of us to-day, either young or old, really 

 do see the things that are around us ? Do we not pass by without 

 study, even unnoticed, those things which we daily proclaim with our lips 

 to be so wonderful ? Yet, though undeveloped, the nature-instinct is 

 strong within us all. 



Nature-study, not being a science-teaching movement, has many 

 phases or aspects. It must vary with one's outlook on the world, and to 

 it there can never be attached codified methods or systems of teaching. 

 Every method, therefore, that is employed in the teaching of Nature-study 

 must be accepted as correct if the final result is the development of a keen 

 personal interest in natural objects and phenomena. Two factors, how- 

 ever, determine the value of these Nature-study methods : first, the 

 subject must be common, easily seen by the pupil, preferably out of doors, 

 and somewhat associated w T ith his daily life ; and, secondly, the range 

 and nature of the subjects or objects "studied" must be limited to those 

 in which the teacher is interested and regarding which he has some 

 knowledge, although it be not extensive. The best "Nature-study" 

 work seems to be done where the teacher, in relation to his pupils, takes 

 the position of a senior student only. 



One of the many Nature-study methods that are practised is mainly 

 concerned with plants and plant life — the horticultural phase, to which I 

 desire to direct attention. In the teaching of plant subjects in schools 

 four distinct stages or epochs can be traced. First it took the form of 

 making named inventories of the plant kingdom, and the school method 

 was herbarium collecting. The second stage was learning the names of 



