rden crop on a fairly large scale,
the school being formed into a company for this purpose and the proceeds
to be used to meet garden expenses.

8. The pupils can readily bring the necessary tools from home for the
first season's work.

9. Many Agricultural and Horticultural societies offer very substantial
cash prizes for school garden exhibits, and all funds so obtained should
be used to improve the garden from which the exhibits were taken.

10. An earnest, resourceful teacher will find a way of meeting the
necessary expenses.

THE EXCURSION

Nature Study is essentially an outdoor subject. While it is true that a
considerable amount of valuable work may be done in the class-room by
the aid of aquaria, insectaria, and window boxes, yet the great book of
nature lies outside the school-house walls. The teacher must lead or
direct his pupils to that book and help them to read with reverent
spirit what is written there by its great Author.

~Value.~--The school excursion is valuable chiefly because it brings the
pupil into close contact with the objects that he is studying, permits
him to get his knowledge at first hand, and gives him an opportunity of
studying these objects in their natural environment. Incidentally the
excursion yields outdoor exercise under the very best conditions--no
slight advantage for city children especially; and it gives the teacher
a good opportunity to study the pupils from a new standpoint. It also
provides a means of gathering Nature Study material.

~Difficulties.~--Where is the time to be found? How can a large class of
children be managed in the woods or fields? If only one class be taken,
how, in an ungraded school, are the rest of the children to be employed?
Will the excursion not degenerate into a mere outing? What if the woods
are miles away? These are all real problems, and the Nature Study
teacher, desirous of doing his work well, will have to face some of them
at least.

SHORT EXCURSIONS

The excursion need not occupy much time. It should be well planned
beforehand. _One_ object only should be kept in view and announced to
the class before starting. Matters foreign or subordinate to this
should be neglected for the time. The following are suggested as objects
for excursions:

~Objects.~--A bird's nest in an adjacent meadow; a ground-hog's hole; a
musk-rat's home; crayfish or clams in the stream near by; a pine (or
other) tree; a toad's day-resort; the soil of a fiel