io8 
NATURE NOTES 
Liverpool Kyrle Society. Flower Branch. — Some years 
ago a manager of an elementary school in an insanitary and squalid 
neighbourhood of Liverpool was struck by the fact that the 
children attending this school could have little real knowledge 
of plants and other natural objects, because they so rarely had 
any first-hand experience of them. 
It seemed as if the boys and girls who, through the agency 
of the Country Holiday Fund, were annually benefited in health 
and happiness by their three weeks’ stay in the country, missed 
something of the aesthetic and educational value the visit might 
have proved had they been better prepared in heart and mind 
to listen and learn from old Mother Nature herself. Therefore, 
when an opportunity arose to promote and encourage Nature- 
teaching in our elementary schools by obtaining for the teachers 
the fresh material for illustration which they had been unable to 
get and had much missed before, this manager and others who 
understood the circumstances were eager to take the matter up. 
Working on the lines of the London Flower Fund, the Liver- 
pool Kyrle Society started a branch, just five years ago, to 
organise the distribution of flowers, leaves, ferns, mosses, &c., 
to the city schools. This venture met with the hearty support 
of a few sympathisers in the country ; and, from a small band of 
workers who helped us during the first season, we have now 
increased to a fair number of regular contributors. 
Fully as we appreciate the fact that this bringing of “ bits of 
Nature ” into the schoolroom can never take the place of the 
richer and fuller sense-experience which contact with the out- 
of-doors world would bring, keenly as we realise that the know- 
ledge gained indoors can only be second best, strongly as we 
deprecate any wanton destruction in order to procure specimens, 
we still have a deep sense of the importance and humanising 
effect of the study of freshly gathered material. 
The boxes are sent to Council, voluntary, “special” and 
industrial schools, where they are much appreciated. 
The flowers are greatly valued for the sake of their beauty, 
and much pride is taken by the children in arranging them to 
the best advantage. They are also used for botany lessons, 
then as models for painting and clay work and as a basis for 
conversation classes. 
The flowers are sometimes given to the children, who treasure 
them at home for many days afterwards. A friend, visiting a 
dingy court one day, was shosvn a daisy plant in a saucer, which 
was considered a most precious possession by the small owner. 
We can hardly estimate the value of the work this branch is 
doing among children, to whom all blue flowers are bluebells, 
and all yellow flowers are buttercups. When even the petals 
of kingcups are cherished, and it is considered a pleasure to be 
allowed to merely hold one, what joy it must be to see a big 
bunch with its glory of green and gold. 
The country workers are from all parts of the l^ritish Isles, 
