250 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [z : 9 - DEC ., , 9 o 7 



garden: (1) The ornamented or planted grounds; this should 

 be a part of every school enterprise, for the premises should be 

 attractive to pupils and they should stand as an example in the 

 community. (2) The formal plat-garden, in which a variety of 

 plants is grown and the pupils are taught the usual handicraft; 

 this is the prevailing kind of school-gardening. (3) The pro- 

 blem-garden, in which certain specific questions are to be studied, 

 in much the spirit that problems are studied in the indoor labora- 

 tories; these are little known at present, but their number will 

 increase as school work develops in efficiency; in rural districts, 

 for example, such direct problems as the rust of beans, the blight 

 of potatoes, the testing of varieties of oats, the study of species of 

 grasses, the observation of effect of fertilizers, may well be under- 

 taken when conditions are favorable, and it will matter very little 

 whether the area has the ordinary "garden" appearance. In 

 time, ample grounds will be as much a part of a school as the 

 buildings or seats now are. Some of the school-gardening work 

 may be done at the homes of the pupils, and in many cases this is 

 the only kind that is now possible ; but the farther removed the 

 laboratory the less direct the teaching. 



To introduce agriculture into any elementary rural school it is 

 first necessary to have a willing teacher. The trustees should be 

 able to settle this point. The second step is to begin to study the 

 commonest and most available object concerning which the 

 teacher has any kind of knowledge. The third step is to begin to 

 connect or organize these observations into a method or system. 

 This simple beginning made, the work ought to grow. It may or 

 may not be necessary to organize a special class in agriculture; 

 the geography, arithmetic, reading, manual training, nature-study 

 and other work may be modified or re-directed. It is possible to 

 teach the state elementary syllabus in such a way as to give a good 

 agricultural training. 



In the high school, the teacher should be well trained in some 

 special line of science; and if he has had a course in a college of 

 agriculture he should be much better adapted to the work. Here 

 the teaching may partake somewhat more of the laboratory 

 method, although it is possible that our insistence on formal 

 laboratory work in both schools and colleges has been carried too 

 far. In the high school, a separate and special class in agriculture 



