The suburban citizen., 1900-01-27


@E small German vii
IVY F'>~NASS% lagos, it says, have
attached to them a little garden. This
is designed primarily for the comfort
Of th0 teacher, as it enables him to
raise few vegetables and fruits and
thus supplement his modest salary;
but here and there teacher turns it
to professional use by encouraging the
children to take an interest in it.
They will tEen no longer content
themselves with the pictorial charts
on the walls of the schoolroom, but
will add to the study of these an ac-
quaintance with the real flowers and
fruits, birds, insects and worms found
outside. The same habits of inquiry
and analysis which are acquired from
q we'll directed kindergarten are stimu-
lated by this simple nature-study, and
the elements of husbandry thus
picked up are not unlikely to be Of
real value later in life.
A school at After, with 400 pupils
and six teachers, has for one of its
compulsory features two hours a week
of instruction in fruit culture, garden
ing and general farming during the
last two years Of the course. The
school is fortunate in its situation, be-
ing in a rich region which has been
turned by intensive farming into one
vast garden, where vegetables alter
nate with orchards, with occasional
strips OF grain or forage plants. Nearly
every householder in After is an ex-
perienced gardener. His wife and
children work in the field with him,
so that the youngsters early acquire a
good general understanding of garden
operations. For this reason the prin-
cipal of the school has addressed his
special attention to fruit-culture,
which is not so widely understood.
His whole garden contains about
half-acre. Dwarf fruits border the
paths. A nursery grown from seeds
planted by the children, and after
ward grated and pruned by them,
occupies a prominent place; while cur
rants, gooseberries, raspberries and
other small fruits fill in every foot of
the available space remaining,
The boys of the higher grade do all
the spading, planting, pruning and
harvesting, under the direction of the
principal, who works with them.
About twenty of the boys work in the
garden at a time. On the occasion of
one visit a part Of the pupils were
found sowing seed, while others were
covering it with the necessary depth
! of SOIL still others were laying out
paths, picking dead leaves off stems,
replanting empty beds, watering the
sown seed etc. A few days later the
dwarf fruit trees required pruning,
aud the boys did it with their own
hands; bat not until, in each case,
the twig to be pruned had been exam
ined and the exact spot fixed for ap-
| plying and explaining why that, and
no other, should be chosen.
The principle underlying the rota-
tiou of crops is taught by intensive
farming in this garden, where the
same soil is utilized for two or three
crops during the growing season, and
the produce sold. This system has
the double value of teaching the chill
dren what particular crops succeed
| each other to best advantage, and also
how the fruits should be prepared and
put up for market Harmful insects
and diseases, as soon as detected any
where, are made a subject of special
! study for the whole class, and the
children learn to hunt down the same
noxious agents in their parents gar
dens at home.
Bees are not included in the regu-
! lar curriculum, but incidentally they
are sometimes turned to account and
a hive is always kept in the garden.
One morning a swarm flew by the
| school windows and alighted on a
small tree. The children were at once
set to studyit. Mcqueen was singled
ont and placed in the hive, the work
ers were gathered and put with her,
! and a new colony was formed.
The principal of the school at Alf-
ter has taught there for thirty-two
years, and has made a speciality of
horticulture from the first. He is of
! the opinion that the influence of the
children's garden-study has extended
through the whole village. While it
may not be solely accountable for the
high degree of perfection in the in
tensive farming Of the district, it has
undoubtedly produced its effect in the
introduction Of the best varieties Of
fruit ard vegetables there. The chill
dren seem to enjoy their garden work,
They gather seedlings from the for
est, graft them at home, and are soon
owners Of their own fruit trees; and
nearly all of them have little flower
gardens or potted plants for their ex-
elusive property.
This school, it should be said, is
not sample of the rural common
schools generally, even in the same
province. Most Of the teachers, un-
fortunately, are recruited from the
cities, and lack anything more than a
theoretical knowledge OF the laws of
plant-growth, which they impart to