12 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Published on the tenth of each month except July 
and August . . , 
The official organs of the Wisconsin and Illinois 
Audubon Societies. 
Twervty-five cents per year. Single copies 3 cts. 
All communications should be sent to Miss Ruth 
Marshall, Appleton, Wis. 
NATURE STUDY IN THE SCHOOLS. 
II Plant Study. 
The importance of plant study is recognized; 
it has had a place in the schools longer than 
bird study. Facilities for its successful prose¬ 
cution are quite general. The school garden 
forms a part of the plan of the newer city 
schools; conservatories will be a part of the 
equipment of every high school. I his is well; 
but before equipment comes the clear notion 
of the results that are wanted. To interest 
children in plants is easy enough, and the value 
of equipment depends on its use. r lhe results 
of the systematic work on platnts in thegrades 
or the absence of any work at all, has greatly 
hampered the study of botany in the high 
school. 
Little discussion is needed to establish these 
statements, that in the grades the plants are 
to be studied in their relation to man, while 
in botany we try to get the plant’s own stand¬ 
point. All animal life depends upon plants, 
since they alone can make the food supply of 
the world. No one. fortunately, can go 
through the world without picking up a good 
deal of knowledge about the life about him; 
but how much better it would be if he were 
given some formal training at the time when 
his receptive powers are keenest. 
It is clear from this standpoint that the 
plants selected for lessons should be those of 
the greatest importance to man. First are the 
food plants, the plants of garden and field; 
next are those that yield materials for shelter 
and clothing. Make this quite definite. The 
common trees, the cultivated plants, the com¬ 
mon wild plants should be recognized, then 
studied. Give a simple list to the primary 
grades; each year as the pupil advances he 
knows more and more of the flora of the reg¬ 
ion. When he reaches high school he is ready 
to begin the science of botany. 
But some plants bear some other relation 
than a helpful one to us. There are weeds— 
plants in the wrong place, some one has said. 
Nevertheless, they should be studied, although 
the are not handsome. Among them are some 
that, like the poison ivy, are to be known that 
they may be avoided; against many it is 
our duty to wage relentless warfare. 
This practical study is the fundamental and 
must always form the basis for all the work. 
Then the aesthetic will came naturally. Life 
is more than food and clothing, and it should 
be an object to incalculate a love for nature; 
only let the practical come first. 
Just now we are hearing a good deal about 
ecology, the study of the plant in its relations 
to its environment., its ‘ successes and failures 
in the struggle for life. How does the wing¬ 
ed seed of the maple, for instance, serve the 
species, and how do the bright colors of flow¬ 
ers increase the plants’ chances for success? 
If plants are our friends, they have a right 
to our protection. Instead of the indiscrimin¬ 
ate pulling up of wild plants for pleasure, or 
even for study, how much better it is to al¬ 
low them to live and not be exterminated, or 
to keep them alive in our gardens, anyway, to 
have them alive, rather than dead. Interest 
in the wild flowers may be stimulated by the 
keeping of a calendar on which the date of the 
blooming of each is recorded, with the name 
of the observer. 
But after all, we cannot know plants inti¬ 
mately until we have raised them. For this a 
school garden is not always necessary. Re¬ 
sults* may be even better with a garden at 
home. This plan has been tried with success. 
Early in the spring each pupil is given a few 
seeds with directions as to how to plant them. 
These are taken home, put in flower pots, the 
entire care being left to the children. On the 
last day of school the pots are brought to 
school for a flower show, and a prize given for 
the best effort. It is worth trying. R. M. 
The manufacturers’ price for the wren but¬ 
tons- has advanced, and consequently the price 
after this, from the secretaries of both Wis¬ 
consin and Illinois, will be two cents each. 
Through an unfortunate error, the name of 
th'e author of the poem “Ballade of Unknown 
Birds,” which appeared in the May number of 
the Wayside, was mispelled, it should be Anne 
Higginson Spicer. 
