THE HORTICULTURAL PHASE OF " NATURE-STUDY." 117 



The outline I have been able to present of that phase of the Nature 

 study movement that may be termed horticultural will, it is hoped — 

 though it be a bare bold outline — direct the attention of horticulturists to 

 the movement. English men of science of the past generation recognised 

 the need for Nature-study teaching. Professor Forbes in 1853, in a 

 lecture before the Eoyal School of Mines, said that " the great defect of 

 our systems of education is the neglect of the educating of the observing 

 powers — a very distinct matter, be it noted, from scientific instruction." 

 Again, Dr. Carpenter, in his evidence before the English Public Schools 

 Commission, said : " Any right system of education will take up the 

 faculties in the order of their development, and it is quite certain that the 

 observing faculties are developed before the reasoning powers. . . . The 

 training of the observing faculties by attention to the phenomena of 

 nature, both in physical and in natural science, seems to me to be the 

 natural application of time at the age of, say, from eight to twelve," 

 These views are also embodied in the testimony of such men as Lyell, 

 Faraday, Hooker, and Owen. 



Our present educational code recognises gardening as a subject of 

 instruction, yet it is quite possible to learn how to grow an economic 

 plant without really observing it. Professor Bailey relates that he went 

 into a potato-growing community and asked the farmers where the roots 

 of the potato plant were — whether above or below the tuber ; and that in 

 an apple- growing district he asked the growers how many apple flowers 

 are borne in a cluster, with the result in each case that "every man 

 guessed, but no man knew." It is undoubtedly not the province of 

 Nature-study to teach where the potato roots are. Its function is to 

 make one observant, and if this be accomplished, then the observant 

 details introduce themselves. 



The old idea of the study of Nature was to make an inventory of 

 things, and many still believe in this natural history bookkeeping. It is 

 to be hoped it will soon pass away. No doubt at present much confusion 

 exists as to what Nature- study is, because of the different attitudes of its 

 various exponents. This is a healthy sign, for it represents the reflections 

 of different personalities and is the expression of their outlook on the 

 world. Should any definition of Nature-study ever meet general accept- 

 ance, it will be found to be based on the terms of its purpose and not in 

 terms of its methods. 



Whatever be the aspect of Nature-study we support — the horticultural 

 for example — it will be an acceptable one if it stimulates and exercises the 

 powers of observation, paying little heed to information-giving or the 

 teaching of classified knowledge. Through it our science teaching must 

 become more fruitful, for it will have developed, those qualities most 

 desirable in a student of science. 



Nature- study of the desirable type — free from the incubus of mental 

 discipline, science teaching, &c, yet in its own way an excellent training 

 for such teaching and discipline — will in due course, it is to be hoped, 

 free our educational methods from the caustic criticism passed on them by 

 Agassiz when he remarked that under the ordinary conditions " the 

 pupil studies Nature in the schoolroom, and when he goes out of doors 

 he cannot find her." 



