Evening star., 1924-07-03
GARDENS PRAISED
NSCHOOL COURSE
Contribute to Character,
Education and Health, Say
N. E. A. Speakers.

AHe SCHOOL Saruen was praised as
wholly worthy part OF the school
curriculum by speakers before the
School Garden Association Of Amer
lea, meeting today at Wilson Normal
School. in connection with the Ma
tional Educational Association conven-
ton here.
r. G. Jones, superintendent of
schools at Cleveland. Ohio, declared
nature study contributes to char
acter education in most practical
and fundamental way"
For this service alone" he con-
tinued, lit is worth having. School
gardens have literally had a hard
row to hoe for various reasons.
The fact remains that nature
study in the abstract has not pros
pered and no doubt will not succeed
in the future so far as early train
ing goes. 1t is an important labor
atcry subject-it costs more because
1t is worth more.
We are in dire need of properly
trained persons to do this work and
We should urge institutions engaged
in teacher training to provide
courses that will supply demand.
We need a happy combination of
gardener and trained biologist
together with an idea of the mean
ing of education. 1 fear such talent
may not be purchased on the regular
schedule and we may find it neces-
:sary to subsidiZe the work for d
time.
Practical Gardening Need.
What we all fear is chiefly that
the work may fall into the hands
will be fatal. If the subject is
treated as a toy-good-bye to gar
dens. We need Of all things the
practical grower who will be a real
soil worker. The work is sufficiently
tried out, 1 believe. to insure its sue
cess II 1t is kept in competent hands.
but this field is surely no place for
a novice. What are the values that
justify it's place? The only approach
to the biological knowledge of life
teaches respect for work. 1t is edu-
cative recreation. 1t is one Of the
best approaches to fine and applied
art for those who are inclined to
this pursuit.
John A. Hollinger. director of na-
ture study and INSTALLATION of Pitts
brugh, discussing the garden, said:
Society needs the home; the salts
factory home requires garden, the
gardener must have education and
training; curriculum for this train
ing is imperative. There seems to be
sufficient evidence that gardening
activities lead toward those ideal
traits which make the individual fit
for occupying his proper place in the
community"
Continuing his address, Mr. Hol-
iinger said in part: 1T is rather diff.
ficult to limit gardening in the cur
riculum to the school garden: The
child's home garden may well come
under the schools direction or su-
pervision. The objectives of garden
ing in the curriculum extend beyond
the school garden. This is especially
true when we consider gardening as
real project work.
"A gardening curriculum provides
for a dozen or more large projects,
each with a number of problems to
be solved in their natural setting
and carried out to satisfactory con-
clusions. Making and maintaining
lawn, procuring, planting and caring
for shrubs, vines and trees: planning,
planting and caring for flower gar
den or vegetable garden furnish
satisfactory interest, perpetual pleas
ure and healthful recreation.
Unique in Curriculum.
Miss Effie NJ. Burton. director of
school gardens, Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
only agency in the school today tha
develops the physical, Intellectual and
spiritual side of the child"
Continuing, Miss Burton said in
in the curriculum is unique. 1t is a
practical Interpreter of the rich and
the poor, all through life. 1t is a
harmoni8er of life's joys and sorrows.
might almost say, the personifica, +,
ton of the Comforter here on earth"
Albert +. Winship. editor of the
Journal of Education, described the
school garden as the "one place where
nature is interpreted by human ma
ture: where intelligence tests are as
reliable as the measure of crops, and
the banking of profits and discount
of losses"
Education. through the school gar
den," said Mr.. Winship, lis genuine, is
of permanent value, unlike any edu-
cation that comes through books
alone. The present school garden
interest is more significant than that
which was in evidence a few years
ago.
weather fluctuations, the times and
habits of insect pests and plant dis
ease. One has to know soil condi-
tions, what to plant. where to plant,
how and when to plant"