The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-09-19
STUDY Of
NATURE
What the Child
Sees in the
Garden.
GAINS, FOR SEEING
Is BELIEVING !"
Plants Not All Weeds and Sweet
est Flowers Grow Among
Vegetables.

AT the Nature Study meeting Tues
day evening Mr.. Pope, agricultural in
structor at the Normal School, read the
following interesting paper on School
Gardens:
1t was something less than a hun
dred years ago that the educators of
| the leading European countries began
| to see the benefit of school gardens in
connection with their common schools.
The early growth was slow and steady,
| while in the last twenty-five years this
| branch of their educational system has
made rapid progress. 1t is supposed
that Sweden alone has 20,0 600 school gar
dens, France about 10000, with Eng
| land, Germany and Austria each a pro-
portional number.
| In due time this educational function
| began to expand throughout the United
| States, Massachusetts taking the lead,
followed closely by New York, New
| Jersey. Ohio and Wisconsin, with many
of the other States taking up the work.
We find their agricultural and
horticultural societies along with city
governments, school boards and private
individuals encouraging it by offering
| prizes for good work, by furnishing lit
eratrre and by making liberal dona-
tons of plants, seeds and money.
| The school garden is a laboratory for
| the students of nature 1t is a place
set aside where they can study the life
| history of plants at their convenience.
| d place to train the hand, the eye and
the mind to handle, to see and to COM
| prehend some of the common things
about them. Some one says, Seeing
is believing" 1t is more than that; it
| is knowing and remembering. The
mere reading of statements in some
textbook in the sultry school room is
of little value compared with the OBJ
servation of those facts that present
| themselves in the garden. To go out
into the garden, work up the soil, plant
the seeds and watch the termination
and growth to maturity is by far the
better way if not the only way to get
the pupils interested in the things that
grow. We all agree that without in
| terest good results cannot be obtained
Any kind of a plant is of some interest
if it is nothing more than a weed. But
the cultivation of flowers, vegetables
and fruit will be more beneficial as
their products can be made a source of
income worthy of mention as well as
specimens of study.
School gardens may vary in size from
a single flower bed to as much as an
acre of land, where many things can
| be raised. These gardens can be of
several kinds. The teachers of a school
may have an inclosed plat or portion
for their own private recreation, where
they can show their skill in growing,
training and ornamental arrangement.
The students cooperative garden,
which is one of the most common sys-
TENS practiced in the United States, is
cared for and studied by the entire stu
dent body under the direction of the in
structors. 1t is this form of garden
that is generally recommended for the
common schools where the pupils are
Of various ages and of unmatched skill.
In another system the garden is di-
Nided so as to give each pupil a plat; in
this way they can grow and study those
plants that they choose. This system
gives a mixed arrangement and a very
| poor landscape. but it plainly shows
the care or neglect of the various in
dividuals. 1t also affords opportunity
for greater enthusiasm and a strife to
produce the best.
Again, the school garden can be di-
vided into plats each manipulated by
! small classes or squads of pupils in
charge of senior students. This sys-
tenn of instruction is perhaps the most
practical for normal schools as it will
enable the graduates to be in readiness
to present to the common schools this
method of studying plant life.
| We often see gardens containing both
flowers and vegetables, but the flower
garden is the most common, and per-
| haps far more beneficial for study, on
account Of it's attractions.
In preparing the garden select good
location, where the plats will not be
shaded by the tops of large trees or the
soil Slapped of it's vitality by their roots
The soil should be made rich and
plowed or spaded up deeply and raked
= into beds about four feet wide and from
twelve to twenty feet in length. These
dimensions can be conveniently culti-
vated.
The most natural way to start the
plants is by sowing the seeds in the
beds, but it is not always practical
ole to do so on account of the coarse
soil extreme heat at midday and the
difficulty in keeping it moist enough fol
che terminating of seeds.
1t has been found far better to SOW
the seeds in fine soil placed in shallow
trays or boxes that are three or -four
inches in depth. These trays can bt
moved into the shade in case of extreme
heat, and watered at most any time t.
keen the uniform degree of moisture
which will produce termination if Their,
is life in the seeds. As soon as the lit.
tie plants grow the first true leave!
they must be reset in boxes or pots
OF soft, light soil giving them NOR,
space so they can become much strong
err In a week or two these plants car
be transplanted to the garden bed