Lessons on Soil | Page 4

INTRODUCTION
The following pages contain the substance of lessons given at the
village school at Wye to the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th standards (mixed) and
at St George's School, Harpenden, to the 3rd form. There is, however,

an important difference between the actual lessons and the book. The
lessons had reference to the soils round about the village, and dealt
mainly with local phenomena, general conclusions being only sparingly
drawn; while in the book it has been necessary to throw the course into
a more generalised form. The teacher in using the book will have to
reverse the process, he must find local illustrations and make liberal use
of them during the course; it is hoped that the information given will
help him over any difficulties he may experience.
This necessity for finding local illustrations constitutes one of the
fundamental differences between Nature Study subjects and other
subjects of the school curriculum. The textbooks in some of the others
may be necessary and sufficient; in Nature Study it is at most only
subsidiary, serving simply as a guide to the thing that is to be studied;
unless the thing itself be before the class it is no better than a guide to a
cathedral would be without the cathedral. And just as the guide is
successful only when he directs the attention of the stranger to the
important features of the place, and fails directly he becomes garrulous
and distracts attention, so a Nature Study book succeeds {xii} only in
as far as it helps in the study of the actual thing, and fails if it is used
passively and is substituted for an active study. No description or
illustration can take the place of direct observation; the simplest thing
in Nature is infinitely more wonderful than our best word pictures can
ever paint it.
The author recommends the teacher to look through the chapter before
it has to be taken in class and then to make a few expeditions in search
of local illustrations. It is not strictly necessary that the chapters should
be taken in the order given. The local phenomena must be dealt with as
they arise and as weather permits, or the opportunity may pass not to
return again during the course. In almost any lane, field, or garden a
sufficient number of illustrations may be obtained for our purpose; if a
stream and a hill are accessible the material is practically complete,
especially if the children can be induced to pursue their studies during
their summer holiday rambles. Of course this entails a good deal of
work for the teacher, but the results are worth it. Children enjoy
experimental and observation lessons in which they take an active part

and are not merely passive learners. The value of such lessons in
developing their latent powers and in stimulating them to seek for
knowledge in the great book of Nature is a sufficient recompense to the
enthusiastic teacher for the extra trouble involved.
It is not desirable to work through a chapter in one lesson. Children
unaccustomed to make experiments or to see experiments done, will
probably require three or four lessons for getting through each of the
first few chapters, and two or three lessons for each of the others.
{xiii}
The pot experiments of Chaps. VI., VII. and VIII. should be started as
early in the course as possible. Twenty flower pots are wanted for the
set; they should be of the same size, about eight inches being a
convenient diameter, and should be kept together in a warm place.
Three are filled with sand, seven with subsoil, and the remaining ten
with surface soil. Three of the subsoil pots are uncropped, two being
stored moist and one dry. Four pots of the surface soil are uncropped
and moist, a fifth and sixth are uncropped and dry, one of these
contains earthworms (p. 54). Four glazed pots, e.g. large jam or
marmalade jars, are also wanted (p. 69). Mustard, buckwheat, or rye
make good crops, but many others will do. Leguminous crops, however,
show certain abnormal characters, while turnips and cabbages are apt to
fail: none of these should be used. It is highly desirable that the pots
should be duplicated.
The plots also should be started in the school garden as early as
convenient. Eight are required for the set: their treatment is described in
Chap. IX. Plots two yards square suffice.
A supply of sand, of clay, and of lime will be wanted, but it is not
necessary to have fresh material for each lesson. The sand may be
obtained from a builder, a sand pit, the sea shore or from a dealer in
chemical apparatus. The clay may be obtained from a brick yard; it
gives most satisfactory results after it has