The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1905-01-02
GARDEN SCHOOLS
IN FOREIGN LANDS
HOW AGRICULTURE AND HORTI-
BELGIUM AND SWEDEN.

Apropos Of the recent grand jury's
report on agriculture i'm the schools of
Hawaii, the following from the London
Daily Mail of October Is, 1904, is of in
terest:
If foreign nations are taking the lead
of us i'm agriculture now, what will b.
the state of affairs in a generation or
two? For many of them are teaching
their children the science and practice
of agriculture with the same care that
they teach writing ana arithmetic
Sweden has had school gardens for
many years past and their number
now amounts to several thousand. Bel
GUM, Switzerland, Austria, Germany
and France have all taken up the idea.
Wherever it has been carried out the
results are recognized as being most
valuable, and people wonder that they
did not think of it before.
1t has been found that the children
take up this study with great interest
and with such success that they turn
every little bit of ground at home to
account and provide the family with
vegetables. Taught the latest and best
systems of agriculture, they develop in
to really intelligent agriculturists, and
are ready, which we are not, to discard
old and wasteful methods for the new
est and best
AS an example of what is being done
in this way, take the case of Belgium.
Here, in the country districts many
schools have plots Of ground varying in
extent from an acre upward, where a
thorough grounding in agricultural
science is given. The younger children
are taught the use of the spade, hoe,
rake trowel, and watering pot. togeth-
er with such knowledge as suits their
younger minds regarding peas, beans,
cabbages, potatoes, apples, pears,
plums Strawberries, cherries, carrots,
onions parsley and tobacco. This is
easy and pleasant work compared with
the sums, writing, and reading of the
indoor school Such young children, )
years old and upward, are also fami-
| liarized with the habits of few of the
commoner animals, the swallow, tit
mouse, sparrow, lark, finch, mole,
hedgehog, caterpillar, butterfly, and
May bug.
| For older pupils the field is very eX-
tensve. They learn about the germin-
alton of seeds, the anatomy of plants,
with the use of their various parts
STEM roots, leaves, buds, flowers and
| fruit They are shown how to plant
slips, to plant flowers i'm pots, to graft
and to transplant. They are taught to
! lay out small nursery, to prepare the
ground. to SOW seeds, and to care for
the plants during their growth. The
| very important subject of fertilizers is
! fully explained, as well as the dangers
| from insects and the remedies Then
they learn how to gather seeds and how
to keep them, and how to recognize
poisonous plants. Gradually the whole
science is unfolded. The pupils are
taught the advantages and disadvan.
tages of the various kinds of soils; how
| to use manure and its virtues as COM
pared with the various fertilizers; how
to choose seeds, and the various metz
DDS of sowing them by hand, with
tools, etc AS the plants grow they are
| practiced i'm wedding, thinning, hoeing,
| killing, etc, and the effects of the va
| rious operations are explained. Plow-
/ ing, narrowing and rolling; harvesting
hay grain, turnips, potatoes, carrots;
| preserving the harvest in stacks, barns,
and pits are operations for the advance
| ed student. At the same time he, is
made acquainted with the best knowI.
| edge concerning animals. The pupil
| learns all about rainage and irriga-
| ton, as well as meteorological pheno
/ mena-rain, mist, dew, ice wind-from
an agricultural point of view. Obvious
! ~, a boy who goes through a complete
| scientific training of this kind must
make a better agric,s:turist than if he
got his knowledge in the haphazard
way of our own country. And this fact
| is proved by the great success of the
! Scandinavian farmer in America.
| Girls, as well as boys, go through
| systematic training i'm the garden
| schools of foreign countries. They
! Learn the qualities of a good laying hen,
how to care for their fowls, how to
treat milk, to skim IL churn it, and to
make cheese, and also the use of the
various instruments for testing the
density of milk, the amount of it's acid
| ity, and the quantity of cream.