Botanical Assistance to Those Engaged in Nature-Study Work (School Gardens and School Herbaria)

It is expected that the Botanical Office will become a centre for the supply of information to teachers regarding the native flora and its relation to nature-study in schools. A number of teachers are already on the list of correspondents, and as the work of the Botanical Office is better known it is hoped that a larger number of teachers will act as correspondents for the locality in which their school is situated.

Information has been given regarding the formation of school herbaria. These are considered almost necessary in a Province such as this, where the climatic conditions vary so much according to the locality.

It would be of great educational value if each school throughout the Province had a properly prepared set of herbarium specimens to illustrate the flora of the district around the school. It will be found that the collection belonging to a school in one locality in the Dry Belt differs in some respects from that in another locality; and that the flora of the Dry Belt differs markedly from that of the Coast; that the flora in different localities on the Coast will differ from other localities on the Island, and so on.

School herbaria will be valuable in enabling teachers to become acquainted with the plants of that locality and enable them to give the children the benefit of this knowledge; thus botanical information will be disseminated to all parts of the Province.

School herbaria will be found of particular value to teachers who have been transferred from one locality to another. For example, a teacher who has been employed for a few years in the Dry Belt and has become acquainted with the characteristic flora of such regions, when transferred to a school in some other part of the Province, is faced with new difficulties on finding that the vegetation as a whole is different.

The school herbarium would also be of service to new-corners, such as teachers from the East possessing a good knowledge of the Eastern flora; they are greatly handicapped on account of the difficulty in obtaining the names of the native plants, which are, on the whole, very different from those east of the Rocky Mountains.

Advice and instructions are given to teachers regarding the formation of such school collections. In order to facilitate this work throughout the Province, the Botanical Office has arranged with one or two firms to manufacture or supply the requisites for botanical work, thus saving the inconvenience and loss of time in having to send East or to the States for them. Lenses, forceps, needles, wire frames for pressing plants, pressing and mounting paper, and botanical collecting cases may now be had in Vancouver.

In regard to the formation of school gardens, there are great opportunities for doing much useful work both in town and country. There are so many showy native plants, and so many particularly useful types for nature-study, that each school should as far as possible have its own school garden to illustrate the different types of plants found in the Province, and to grow a sufficient quantity of selected specimens to supply useful material for the nature-study classes. The Botanical Office serves as a centre for the exchange of specimens between schools in different parts of the Province.

A teacher desiring to have a collection of special plants in the garden may, on communication with the Botanical Office, obtain supplies of seeds or plants, or, failing that, may be brought into touch with a correspondent who may be able to supply the particular species. In this way a school at the Coast or on the Islands may obtain specimens of Dry Belt or alpine plants, and, similarly, schools in the Dry Belt may obtain characteristic plants from the Coast.

Most of the work in connection with the school garden can be done by the children under the supervision of the teacher, and, as a rule, an interesting display of plants from adjacent districts may be brought in by the children. The school janitor could attend to the specimens during the school vacation, particularly such specimens as require to be occasionally watered.

With the object of aiding in the dissemination of a knowledge of the British Columbia native flora, the suggestion was made by the Botanical Office to the Board of Parks Commissioners that a public botanical garden should be established in Stanley Park, Vancouver. It was suggested that accommodation should be provided for a representative collection of the Province, including the Southern, Coast, and Dry Belt floras, and that as far as possible all the native trees and shrubs be represented.

To add to its educational value, it was proposed that a few beds should be specially devoted to selected British Columbia types for nature-study lessons, so that teachers may find some suggestions which would be applicable in their school-work.

The suggestion was at once accepted, and soon afterwards a portion of Stanley Park was set aside for this purpose. A plan has been prepared of the proposed garden, and it is expected that a commencement will be made during 1914 in laying out the flower-beds and rock garden.