THE HORTICULTURAL PHASE OF " NATURE-STUDY." 11} 



the parts of plants by a rigid codified and defined system, through text- 

 books that blended together the morphology, physiology, and histology of 

 plants. The third epoch, under which the present generation has suffered, 

 may be termed the German laboratory method. The pupil in this epoch 

 actually handles and studies plants, but, instead of ranging gardens and 

 fields, is tied down to the tables of the laboratory and the outlook pro- 

 vided by the microscope. The fourth epoch, in the beginning of which 

 we are now living, is marked by the effort to know the actual life, habits, 

 and associations of plants under natural conditions : that is, living its own 

 life in a natural way. In this epoch our attention is chiefly directed to 

 plant ecology, which investigates the physical conditions under which 

 plants in a given area live ; notes the adaptation of their organs to these 

 external conditions, i.e. the response of plants to their surroundings ; and, 

 lastly, determines what plants grow together, or rather the relationship of 

 plants to each other. The dominant note of this last epoch is " field- 

 work." 



There are many methods for carrying out Nature-study with plants, 

 and their efficiency depends on their elasticity ; but, broadly speaking,, 

 they fall into three groups. First, those that take the form of an out- 

 door study of plant societies and associations ; secondly, those which com- 

 bine an outdoor and indoor study of the attributes or forms of plants ; 

 and thirdly, those that encourage the actual growing of plants (a) in the 

 schoolhouse, and (6) in the sehool grounds. 



The best Nature-study observation is that which is done out of doors, 

 the next that done in the schoolroom from material brought in by the 

 pupils and obtained by them through out-of-door field work. The nature 

 of this teaching, or leading, or study, whether outdoor or indoor, will 

 depend (1) on the time of year and the opportunities it offers ; (2) on the 

 situation of the school — rural or urban, its altitude and latitude, and its 

 environment, such as mountain or moorland, woodland or farmland ; 

 (3) on the desires of the pupils, as on them rests the onus of observing 

 and recording data ; (4) on the desires and capabilities of the teacher, for 

 the personality of the teacher must always stand out strongly — the best 

 for Nature-study work being those who are Nature-lovers, have the 

 greatest personal enthusiasm, and are least bound by the traditions of 

 the schoolroom. 



The type of Nature- study undertaken in the first group may be that 

 some common plant like the Dandelion is taken, and the inquiry takes 

 the form of comparing the relative abundance and " look " of these 

 plants in the playground and the meadow, the garden and the roadside, 

 on the borders of woodlands and on lawns, and so on. Another inquiry 

 might be as to the common dominant plants generally to be found in an 

 open field, a woodland and a dripping rock-cliff ; by a roadside, a hard- 

 tramped path, and in a meadow ; by a hedgerow or a rubbish heap, and 

 many other situations. Certain plant forms come to mind when one 

 thinks of an Apple orchard or a Beech forest. A moor, a dry hillside, 

 a brook-side, a weedy yard, a dusty roadway, a river-bank, a pastuiv, a 

 railway cutting, a tangled fence, and a swamp — each has its characteristic 

 common plants. Nature-study of the type we are discussing endeavours- 

 to answer the question, What are they ? 



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