114 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The second group of Nature-study methods is mainly concerned with 

 the special attributes or forms of plants. Observations are made on the 

 forms of stems, varieties of bark, ways of branching, position, and size of 

 leaves, and the variety of root forms, leaf forms, and flower forms. 

 Other observations may be concerned with the forms of trees, seed sowing, 

 and germination, preparations for spring, leaf buds and fruit buds, seed 

 dispersal, falling of the leaves, evergreens and how they shed their leaves, 

 how the different kinds of trees hold the snow, and other suggestive 

 inquiries about the common things of our environment. The indoor work 

 that may be done in school in Nature-study of this type must, of course, 

 depend on the out-of-door observations of the pupils. 



The third group of Nature-study methods is chiefly concerned with 

 the growing of plants. It must be admitted that " actually to grow a 

 plant is to come into intimate contact with a specific bit of nature." 

 Three distinct merits can be attributed to Nature-study of this type. 

 First, the plant is practically under the control of the observer and can 

 be subjected to continuous observation ; secondly, it teaches pupils how 

 to grow plants — the purely technical aspect ; thirdly, it teaches the child 

 the care of things, for if the needs of a plant are not attended to its life 

 ends. The growing of plants by children, either in the schoolhouse or at 

 their homes, has its own influence towards Nature-love. The plants, of 

 course, are grown in boxes, pots, or glasses, under natural conditions as 

 to soil, light, warmth, and moisture, for if grown in water solutions or 

 under other unnatural conditions, then the dividing line between " Nature- 

 study " and " science " will have been crossed. 



Nature-study is often associated with the growing of plants in the 

 school grounds. School-gardening may have many objects or purposes 

 in view, and school gardens may be established (1) for ornamenting the 

 grounds ; (2) for providing material for object-lessons and class-work ; 

 (3) for affording an opportunity to teach a phase of Nature-study ; (4) for 

 affording instruction in plant-growing ; (5) for teaching technical agri- 

 culture and horticulture ; and (6) for affording manual training. 



Although Emerson wrote that " manual labour is the study of the 

 external world," manual training is outside our province, so also is the 

 teaching of agriculture and horticulture. The ornamentation of school 

 grounds, though a valuable factor in arousing Nature-instincts, can also 

 be passed over. The chief value of school-gardening to us is, that it 

 provides an opportunity for some form of " Nature-study," to be 

 introduced and practised in rural schools. 



School gardens, especially in England and the United States, are at 

 present just feeling their way. We have unfortunately lost in the late 

 Mr. Rooper, of the Education Department, their most enthusiastic sup- 

 porter and advocate. The United States, on the other hand, have happily 

 still with them Professor Bailey, of Cornell University, the leader of the 

 Nature-study movement in America, and perhaps the strongest supporter 

 the school garden movement possesses among the English-speaking 

 peoples. A real school garden should be regarded as an outdoor 

 laboratory in the equipment of a school, but such a school garden is not 

 adapted to all schools even if they be rural, any more than, as will be 

 admitted, schools are not all adapted to possess a complete equipment in 

 chemistry or physics. 



