1 86 THE NA TURESTUD Y RE VIE //' [a . 5 _ M ay, .qo6 



given in arithmetic, geography, physiology, etc., to make place for 

 this line which is of so much greater importance. 



L. 1). Harvey, Supt. Stout Training Schools, Menomonie, Wis., 

 said that children of the farms have a right to know their environment 

 and to have the kind of instruction that is suited to their needs. This 

 subject of agricultural instruction is "in the air." No one seems to 

 have a very definite knowledge of what is needed and we therefore 

 should make haste slowly, get preparation on the part of teachers 

 and lay broad and deep the foundations of work that is of such far 

 reaching importance, dealing as it does with the very basis of all 

 industry. 



The paper on school-gardens by Professor Davis was published in 

 The Nature- Study Review for March. 



Another paper on school-gardens by A. J. Pillsbury contained the_ 

 following points: 



Manual training, whether in the form of school-gardens or Sloyd. 

 rests upon principles of the most fundamental character. There isn't 

 any wholesome or adequate development of the intellectual life apart 

 from the development and training of the physical being. This is 

 demonstrated in the homes for feeble-minded children as nowhere 

 else. To be feeble-minded is not to be blank-minded. There is 

 some element of mind there, and in all cases it is susceptible of some 

 development, but there is no way of getting at it except through 

 physical training, competitive play and manual training. 



Therefo r e, apart from all considerations of learning how plants 

 grow, apart from all value to be attributed to getting the child into 

 touch with nature, and apart from all use that the knowledge of gar- 

 dening may be to the child in after life, I favor the school-garden as 

 an agency in intellectual development. From the cradle to the grave 

 the powers for good that there are in us are drawn out through 

 appeals to the physical senses. If further corroboration of this state- 

 ment is required, the investigator will only have to visit the schools 

 for the education of the blind and the deaf where, without manual 

 training of some sort, these shut-in pupils remain shut-in until the 

 grave closes over their solitary and melancholy lives. Per contra, as 

 they are brought into touch with the physical world they are made 

 useful, intelligent and happy, and in no other adequate way. 



The life of the city child is shut in. To have eyes and ears and 

 hands for which there is little use is almost as unfortunate as not to 

 have them- and deprives the brain of development in exact proportion 



