Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-04-20

European school children have
learned that war is service, war is
work. They have learned that this
work and service is not alone for the
men behind the guns, but for women
and girls in, the shops, for men and
boys on the farm and even for children
in the home garden patch.
The school children of Europe are
learning a new history. From keen
experience and observation they are
discovering that the destiny Of nations
may be determined not so much IN the
storm Of battle as in the silent miracle
of field of potatoes.
1t is hard lesson, this of the dig
nifty of hard, manual labor done in
the quietude of farm life. Boys and
young men thrill at the thought Of
battle line and aeroplane, and face
cheerfully the long dreary marching
through slush and snow, helping drag
cannon if need be.
But pulling weeds! Only in Europe
has the war against weeds assumed
vital proportions and only there the
tragic importance of gardening has
been driven home hard and sure.
America faces a food problem. 1t
may never become tragedy, as 1t has
in some sections of Europe, but its
gravity is bound to increase steadily
from now until some time after the
great war ends.
A mobilization of our available agri-
cultural resources will at best miti-
gate and render actual danger less
acute Hunger always stalks in the
wake of war: and while America may
not starve, large share of America
will have to pull in its belt. How can
we help to lessen want and distress?
Work For School Children.
There are some twenty million
school children in the United States. A
majority of these children are of gar
dening age. All of them would be
| wholesomely benefited by work at Or
| saniZed gardening. There is potential
enough in these millions OF children
to do a very appreciate share in the
feeding of our nation while they may
feel themselves definite part of our
second line of defense.
How can this be done? Can the rails
ing Of vegetables and cereals supple
ment school work. or must the chill
dren sacrifice school training in such
/ cause?
I do not propose to answer these
questions. but here is the story of an
experiment successfully carried out in
correlating garden and school work
! in such way that they supplemented
each day admirably, an experiment
which. if duplicated and reduplicated
on a large scale. would not only help
solve our national food problem, but
the great question Of how to humanze
and make practically interesting tho
routine work of our common schools.
This experiment. conducted in the
spring of 1914 and serving as the basis
for q similar experiment this spring,
was directed by the teacher of mathe-
matics and his wife at the Interaken
Preparatory school for boys near La
Porte, Ind
The punils are the sons of profess
SIGNAL and business men who in their
homes have never been accustomed to
work
This teacher thought it practicable
to correlate his grade work in arith-
metic with the practical outdoor farm
work which the boys were called on
to perform as a regular part of their
school duties.
Arithmetic ard Gardening.
Boys he said to his pupils in
council assembled, "how would you
like to garden this spring end learn
arithmetic by measuring boards for the
hotbeds. counting and weighing seeds,
calculating the number of seeds you
need for certain sized plot, and
working out all the problems that ma