The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-04-26
The School Gardens of
the Hawaiian Islands

By Vaughan McCaughey,

| lated with differences in the maturing
period of plants. On his farm he Sc
cures four crops of potatoes in sue.
cession in the same piece of land in
twelve months; radishes become eat
able ten days after sowing; cucum-
bers. tomatoes. lima beans, grow and
bear all the year round; onions grow
very large, and mature in six months;
pumpkins and squash bear abundant
| " for several years, etc, etc. It is
! evident that this is a land where
| plants grow easily. a contrast with
| the careful nursing and frequent dis
| appointment too common in the East.
This region is unusual in the very
great number of exotic plants that
| have been introduced, and that can
| be grown and studied in a school gar
| den. In a well-organized garden the
| children are able to become familiar
| with range of plant life quite be-
| yon6 the scope of our Eastern gar
| dens All of the plants of worldwide
| economic Importance can be raised
| here, and thus the garden work as
sunles fruitful geographic and socio-
/ logical aspect. The child who has
cared for little patch of rice will
understand the Essential far better
than one who has not; and tales of the
rice fields of India and Japan and
Louisiana will have a new meaning
for him. Pineapples, bananas, vanilla,
| manages, citrons, lines, cocoanuts,
sugar cane, coffee, sisal, rubber
plants of which the Eastern child has
but a vague conception, being familiar
wi he ia1
common here, while the great quaint
ties of fruit shipped in from Califor-
MIA and the Northwest familiarize the
children with main and products.
A matter OF great Importance is the
diverse nationalities represented in the
public schools. These Islands, inhab-
tied at first only by a native apopula-
ton, are now occupied by many peo-
pies - Hawaiian. japanese, Chinese,
Portuguese, American, British, Scan
dinavian, German, Porto Rican, Ko-
rean, and every possible intermingling
of these. The race elements represent
ed most largely in the schools are ORR
entail, Hawaiian and Portuguese. These
children come from widely dissimiIar
homes. Their languages, their trad;-
tons, their beliefs, their whole mental
attitudes vary as widely as do their
physical characteristics. The educator
has problems entirely different from
those of his Eastern brother worker He
must develop each one of these boys
and girls along lines which are not
evidently antagonistie to their race in
stincts. A classroom full of children
here is entirely too heterogeneous to
he rx-ffr r. ..aI,,
ically, racially different from every
other unit, and individual training Is
a paramount necessity. This develop
ment of the individual, and it's en-
forced emphasis along Industrial lines
for the great mass of the people are
poor-finds fitting expression in the
school garden. The work is with real
things, which these polyglot children
understand far more easily than the |
printed book. It is through the school !
garden that these children of many
peoples can be most easily transform
ed into efficient laborers, working har-
moniously together for the common |
welfare It is through the school gar
den-one of the last tools that the new |
education has grasped-that the new
generation will assimilate this new |
civilization and carry it forward.
A school garden may be conducted !
with one or more of several different /
purposes in view:
(a.) To teach the child the elemen- |
tary principles of plant life-elemen-
tary botany or nature study. This |
garden is really a nature study lab /
oratory, and the interest centers, not |
so much in the kinds or amounts of |
crops raised, as in how they grow, how
they secure light, food, water; their va
rious enemies, and kindred topics. From
this standpoint the garden may be made
very valuable adjunct to the nature
study work of the school, furnish
ing a wealth of concrete illustrative
material, and suggesting many fas-
cinating experiments and discoveries.
(b) To teach the child how to raise
successfully certain kinds of plants
adapted to the region. Here the basis
is agricultural and economic, instead |
of scientific and experimental. It's
value lies chiefly in it's practical re-
suits, and the size of the crop becomes
an item of Importance. There are three |
possible markets for crops raised in
this garden:
l. The school, the crops being used
in the cooking department, both for
demonstration, and as part of lunches
served to the pupils. This is an ex
cellent arrangement, because it logi-
eally and closely eorrelates the gar
den and the kitchen, and approximates
the conditions of real life. The rela-
ton between raising a crop and eat
ing it is simple and direct, appealing
to the child, and stimulating interest.
This method has been used with con-
siderable success at the Territorial Nor I
nal School The garden products be-
ing used by the Domestic Science De
.partment.
>. The home as market. Here the |
child either sells the results of his gar
den labor to his family, or contributes
them gratis. In either case the results |
are good, furnishing definite link be-
tween the school and the home. 1t |
develops in the child the desirable |
ideas of responsibility and pride-in-
one 's-work that are always eoncomi- |
tant with Independent production. The
lessons of diligence, carefulness, and |
regularity are taught without words. |
The hoy who allows his plat to run to |