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

local products. They reflect their en-.
vironment as truly as does a placid
green-girt lake, They are affected
largely by Immediately impinging con
ditions. General statements may be
made concerning the educational prin
ciples involved, but 1.-THE practical de.
velopment and success of any school
garden must ultimately find its basis
on keen sight into, and compliance
with, environmental influences
The evolution of the school gardens
! as part of the educational system
of the Territory of Hawaii, is a fit
ting Illustration of the above remarks.
The Hawaiians Tor Sandwich Island
ers,'' as they were called in the earIv
days. were naturally an agricultural
people. Their food supply came chief
ly from the fertile loWlands that en-
girdle the Islands, and from the near
| by ocean. Taro, cocoanuts, breadfruit.
| bananas, vans. sweet potatoes and a
few wild fruits of minor Importance
| constituted their vegetable food Fish.
fowl, hog and dog supplied the. re-
| nainder of their diet. The pounded
| J3f0.
forming starchy paste called "poi,'
was their chief dish. Poi and fish,
| is byword here for meal The linn
| tied area of the Islands restricted
| nomadism; the entire lack of large
| game cut off hunting, and the absence
1 of grazing domestic animals prevent
| ed pastoral life. Thus this brown
skinned people was compelled, per-
4 force. to accept a stable, agricultural
| existence.
They were peaceable farmers and
| fishermen. not savage cannibals, as
were their kin of the South Seas Pc
riodically. at various favorite places,
| great markets and fairs were held.
Here the best handiwork and finest
crops and live stock were exhibited
nrisingly like the modern County
Fair of the Middle States, and were
decidedly agricultural
| When Captain Cook discovered the
| Islands in 177S. he remarked the ex-
tensiveness of the cultivated lands
along the seashore; and it was -appro-
pirate that in the first band of mis-.
sionaries sent hither there should be
skilled farmer and mechanic, Mr..
Daniel Chamberlain. In several years
he and his family instructed the ma
tives in agriculture and the rudiments
of mechanic arts.
The first school garden was undoubt-
eddy established by the early mission
aries on the Island of Hawaii. They
spent much of their time in teaching
| the natives methods of producing gar
den vegetables and field crops. The
natives rapidly absorbed the new
ideas, and the demand for instruction
| became so great that in 1880 an urgent
| petition was sent to the American
| Board of Missions, asking for num-
| Der of instructors to train the Hawai-
| ian people in agricultural pursuits.
The petition received the hearty sup
port of the native population. and was
signed by fifteen of the high chiefs.
| In response, instructors were sent and
very soon there were many prosper
Gus fields of wheat, sugar cane. vege-
tables, etc.
AS schools gradually developed, 1t
was natural that the agricultural
phase of education should continue in
Importance Those in charge of the
school affairs OF the Islands saw that
these people needed training through
concrete things-object-1e lesson teach
ing, industrial and economic. Thus,
in the past ten years, nearly every
school in the Territory, either public
or private, has given some attention
to mechanical and agricultural work,
largely in the form of school gardens.
Excellent gardens have been establish
ed at the Lahainaluna Industrial
| School, the Hilo Boarding School for
Bows, the Kamehameha Schools, the
Waialee Industrial School, and the
Normal and Training School.
There are a number of local factors
that make the school gardens of Ha-
vaii decidedly different from those of
the mainland In the first place, the
garden year corresponds closely with
the school year. There are two main
| seasons-the wet season and the dry
| season. The wet season, correspond
| ing roughly to the mainland winter,
| is the growing season; the summer IS
the dry season, during which garden
| ing slackens. The school year-Sep-
| TENDER to June-thus fortunately
keeps pace with the development of
| the garden. The children can plant
their seeds during the first week Of
school, and be confident of shortly
reaping the results of their labors-
This is in striking contrast to the
| gardens of the East, where extensive
planting can not well begin until late
| springtime, and only rapidly
| ing crops can be raised before the
| close of school.
Secondly, the school gardeners here
are not only fortunate in the cOinci-
| dence of the school year and the grow
| ing season, but the climate as whole
| is ideal for garden work. Uniformity
| is the keynote of this subtropical eli
mate. There are no frosts, no violent
| thunderstorms, no hurricanes nor cy-
| clones Frequent light local showers
| are characteristic. At Honolulu the
! average annual temperature is "A de-
| grees. which varies only a few de-
| grees from day to day. The nights
! are invariably cool. The thousands of
miles of temperate sea on every side
make fluctuations in the weather rare.
| The climate can be depended upon"
to an extent unknown to the weather
/ SUSPICIOUS fastener, and gardening