Our Work.
Volume 7, 1896, pgs. 393-394
House of Education--The great event of the month has been the visit of our Lady Visitor, Mrs. Dallas Yorke, who stayed with us from Friday till Monday (May 29th, to June 1st), and as usual made herself at home with all the details of our work, and with the personalities of the students, whom she never fails to carry by storm! The pleasant ripple of their laughter as they sat with her under the trees was a sound to be remembered; and by the force of her sympathy she has left us all more earnest, more loving, and more simple than she found us. A stimulating little visit from Mr. Rooper fell in with that of Mrs. Dallas Yorke. He gave us two lectures--on "Early Reading" and "Early Arithmetic" respectively--both very suggestive and very helpful; such lectures give real insight into the philosophy of Education. Another event of this interesting week was a series of lectures on the Gouin method from Mdlle. Duriaux, delivered for the most part in French. Mdlle. Duriaux' lectures were object lessons in the art of teaching, and not only so, but she required the students to give lessons before her, and her criticisms were a great help. On the last day a lesson in Welsh, a lesson in Russian (chosen as quite unknown languages), and a lesson in English (given to Mdlle, Mottu, who does not speak English) illustrated in an interesting and amusing way the value of the method.
House of Education Natural History Club.--Notes by M. L. Hodgson. The sea-shore forms of many of our common plants differ much from those of the familiar inland species, and as soon as you begin plant-hunting near the sea, you cannot fail to be struck by the fact that there is a distinct maritime or coast flora, though the specimens found will depend very considerably on the geological formation on which you may be living. My attention was called the other day to the fact that on our highest mountains we find plants identical with our sea-shore forms, such, for instance, as sea plantain, thrift, and no doubt many others. It is not, as a rule, difficult to make out the names of true shore-loving plants, their characteristics are generally well marked, and any good botanical text-book will be sure to describe them. Life by the sea will often make plants grow luxuriantly that you have known inland as small stunted specimens and vice versa, so that it does not always follow that you have got a new and rare plant because you have not seen it before with exactly the same gesture and growth. Many of the crutiferae love the sandy shores, sea radish, sea rocket, sea kale with its curious grape-like seed vessels, scurvy grasses, grow everywhere on the shore and in some places you will find the beautiful sea stock. Poppies, too, have their sea-side relations and the surprising length of the horn of the yellow sea poppy will astonish you. Plants belonging to the Umbelliferae, such as fennel, samphire, and carrot are fairly common, but very local; indeed you may find everywhere on the shore little nests and homes of plants, where they seem to flourish, while they leave what you would suppose to be an exactly similar situation quite deserted. It would be a very useful piece of work to make a careful list of all the plants you find on your shore, both of those that are rare and those that are common, noting the situation in which you found each particular specimen and whether it was or was not fairly abundant. The London Catalogue of British Plants is a great help in indicating the flora of any district, as you have nothing to do but to mark off the names of your plants in the list, and if you interleave your catalogue with blank paper you can easily make notes or sketches as you go along. It is much better to depend on an authorised list, than on your own knowledge in saying whether a plant is rare or common. The London Catalogue provides a census of all the recognised British plants, and so you will see at once whether your find is a good one or not. This practice of marking your catalogue will help to make you familiar with the scientific names, without any trouble, as you will soon find out for yourselves. It is not possible to mention all the plants you are likely to find anywhere on the sea-shore, but I will take as a typical group the sea lavender, to which group the thrift (Armeria Maritima) belongs. Well marked by their heads of purple flowers and narrow oblong leaves, they are easily recognised. We have four species and four named varieties. Here then are eight sea lavenders to discover, and how are you to find out which of them you have got? Read carefully the description of all you have given in your text book, and you will not be far wrong if you are careful to notice the distinct characteristics of each species. I call your attention to sea lavender especially in order to show you that when you find an exactly similar plant with very small leaves and flowers, it does not necessarily follow that it is the same plant as the large one it closely resembles. That this is often the case I know: stunted specimens are common, from growing under unsuitable conditions, still you must learn to observe scientifically, and to know how many kinds we possess of the various wild flowers which surround us; to know, for instance, that there are more than four or five kinds of roses, sedges, rushes, hawk weeds, etc., and where and how they differ. This appears more difficult than it really is if you only have courage to set about it in the right way.
Many excellent lists of flowers have been sent in for May; including the list for Humphrey Head, we had 135 new flowers for the month.
Proofread by LNL, Nov. 2020