impressed with the individuality of trees, that it seemed too commonplace a fact to mention. Many poets have felt this companionship with trees and perhaps none have expressed it more exquisitely than Lowell in Under the Willows. But the Editor had an inner conviction that this feeling is by no means limited to poets and so was led to ask several people, among them some very "level-headed" unsentimental and practical young men, to tell the truth about their experiences with individual trees. Some of the results of this request give special quality to this number of the REVIEW and there are others just as good, retained in the Editorial portfolio. These experiences have been published in THE REVIEW with a purpose, hoping that they will lead teachers to sympathetically help their pupils to what should be an inalienable heritage of the American child, a sense of companionship with trees. WELCOME HOME "In time of war, one who loves his country should be at home." These are the words that came in a letter in May from Professor L. H. Bailey, the President of the American Nature-Study Society, who was in China when the United States declared war. And, true to his sentiments as thus expressed, he has cut short his stay in the Orient, and has returned to us and to any form of service which he can render his country in her time of stress. It is difficult to express in mere words the rejoicing and the welcome from every side which have greeted him and his family on their return home. It is a source of cheer and comfort to us all to have them back to give us courage, to share with us, and help us to bear all that is coming to us, because of this war. Meanwhile and quite inevitably, the President of our Society has returned full of strange and interesting experiences which he gained while collecting plants in remote regions. Fortunately for the world, his interests are deeply human and, although collecting plants, he is always studying people and meeting them with gentle, keen and sympathetic understanding. A Graded Course in Tree Study Kindergarten First and Second Grades.-The objects to be achieved in the kindegarten and the first grade are to make the pupils acquainted with the leaves of our more common trees and to make them interested in one or two individual trees and what happens to these trees each season of the year. Leaves of mossy cup oak To accomplish these objects we use various devices and methods and the following suggestions will be found useful. Let the children bring to school leaves of all sorts, which have autumn tints. They will be especially interested in picking up the bright colored leaves that fall from the roadside trees. Let them classify the leaves according to color so as to train the eye to discriminate the tints and color values. Let them classify leaves according to form, selecting those which resemble each other. Have them tell in what respects they resemble each other, in this way incidentally calling attention to the margins, the veins and the petiole. Teach the names of the leaves of the most common trees by mentioning quite incidentally that certain noticeable leaves are maple or oak or elm, etc. The children will quickly pick up these names by themselves if thus taught, and the knowledge will help them later on. Let each child select a leaf of his own choosing and draw it. This may be done by placing the leaf flat on paper and tracing its outline with a pencil, later drawing in the veins; or the drawing may be made with colored crayon freehand. The pupils should be allowed to please themselves in this matter, as it is not a drawing lesson but a lesson to help remember form and color. Let the pupils select paper of a color similar to the leaf and cut out the leaf from it during busy work. Let each pupil select four leaves of maple or oak as nearly similar as possible and press them in his book, and later arrange and paste them on a card in some symmetrical design. This may be done while the leaves are fresh, and the card thus decorated may be pressed and thus preserved. Third Grade. The work for the third grade should be an October calendar with a leaf mounted and labeled for each school day of the month. The leaf may be pressed and mounted upon a card, or it may be traced in outline and colored in crayon or water color, or merely traced with the veins drawn in. If there are not thirty species of trees available about the schoolhouse, two leaves of the same species may be used. These two leaves may show a variety in coloring or they may offer a contrast in size and in form since no two leaves are exactly alike, and this in itself is a good lesson. The cards for the calendars should be of uniform size and if it is possible, the calendar should be made into a frieze and pinned to the walls. This will give the children an opportunity to study those leaves already used and will stimulate them to search for different kinds of leaves. The learning of the names of trees should never be in the form of a task or a lesson but should always be given in the form of a game. For instance, after the children have traced many leaves put the drawings in a pile and then for busy work ask a child to go to the pile and pick out all the leaves of maple or poplar or sycamore in the pile. Select some tree near the schoolyard which may be observed from a window, give it a name and try to impress upon the children that it is a living being in some measure like themselves. The following observations should be made at appropriate times during the year. The color of the tree during October, the shape of the tree with the leaves on, which should be shown in a sketch, any birds or animals or insects which may be found visiting the tree, the shadow cast by the tree and the kind of plants that grow beneath it, its fruits if they are ripe at this period. In the winter the tree should be sketched again with especial attention to the shape of its trunk and branches. Note if the snow remains on the tree after it falls. In March bring in some twigs from the tree and put them in water and let the pupils see the young leaves burst the bud scales and expand. Later call their attention to the color of the young leaves and a sketch should be made of the tree in May when it is again in full leaf. Fourth Grade. In this grade the pupils should learn to distinguish the different kinds of maples, oaks, poplars, and pines which are common in the locality. This may be accomplished by a collection of leaves, each mounted on a card and labeled; in addition a specimen of the fruit should either be fastened to the card or sketched upon it. In this grade the pupils should understand what is meant by a compound leaf which they will find on the hickories, horsechestnut, locusts, and ash. For the study of a compound leaf note the following: Of how many leaflets is it composed; the shape of the leaflets; do the leaflets have petioles; are the edges of the leaflets toothed; which of the leaflets is the largest and which is the smallest; are the leaflets paired and opposite each other; are the leaves opposite each other on the twig or are they alternate? For supplementary reading use the stories of famous trees. Fifth Grade. The pupils of this grade should be interested in the tree as a whole and perhaps there is no better way to accomplish this than making a Leaf and acorn of red oak mounted on a card card mount of a tree species which shall include a leaf, a blossom if possible, the fruit, a bit of the bark, a cross-section and a lengthwise section of the wood, and an account written of the tree, where found, for what used, etc. It takes some time to make such amount and each pupil should contribute one to the school exhibit; and while two may choose the same tree it is best to have as wide a representation of tree species as possible. An exhibit of this kind fastened to the walls of the room is of great interest to everybody and of very real educational value to the pupils. Another way of securing a wide knowledge of trees is the making of a portfolio of leaf prints which is especially fitted for fifth grade work .See p. 295. The pupils should learn about the life processes of a tree. The uses of its roots, trunk, branches, bark and leaves; how a tree grows; its food when found and how prepared; the movement of sap and transpiration; how it breathes and how it builds its rings of growth. Sixth Grade. This should include note book work on all the trees in the region. The note books may be those with formal outlines or may be purely individual books with sketches and original observations by the pupils, but in general the note book should include the following observations: (1) Where is the tree growing, was it planted by man or did it plant itself? If an isolated tree it should be sketched. (2) Does the bole or trunk extend straight up through the head or does it divide into many branches? (3) The character of the bark of the tree, especially noting whether the bark is smooth, scaly, rolled up, or divided by fissures, and note whether the ridges between the fissures are sharp, rounded, or flattened. Note especially the color of the bark. (4) Are the leaves placed opposite or alternate on the twigs; is the leaf simple or compound? Describe its appearance above and below. A sketch should be |