BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN 
LEAFLETS 
THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 
Series V Brooklyn, N. Y., September 12, 1917. No. 10 
TALKS FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 
We have published up to this time two Leaflets a year on the 
subjects we present to elementary school classes. These talks 
have now settled into such shape that we feel we can consider 
them as permanent ones. Although these subjects are regarded 
now as more or less permanent, it does not mean that we are not 
ready and willing at any time to give a special subject for any 
group of children or teachers. The subjects laid down correlate 
with the nature stud)- and geography of the elementary schools 
of New York City. This correlation was made deliberately be- 
cause we feel that the Botanic Garden should be of as great aid 
as possible to the children and schools of this city. It is not pos- 
sible for any public school to offer to its pupils such advantages 
as they might have in an institution like the Botanic Garden. 
It is perhaps possible for a teacher to show her class howto plant 
bulbs or how to make cuttings as well as we do it here, although 
even then our facilities are much better than those offered in any 
class room, but it is quite impossible for any school to have 
growing in the class room, Coffee Trees or Banana Plants or 
even enough common trees growing on the school grounds to 
give the children much of a knowledge of our common deciduous 
trees or our common evergreens. It has been in our plan from 
the first to make this Garden a necessary part of the education 
of the boys and girls of this city, to widen their scope of interest 
and to make out-doors a well known friend to them. 
It will be noted that the third grade is not provided for, or 
those grades below that. We have found that the younger 
children get far less out of this work and it hardly seems 
advisable to take our time or the time of their teachers for 
something which does not seem, at least in our own eyes, to be 
helpful and vital. Third grades will however be taken through 
the green houses and through the Japanese Gardens under 
