SCHOOL GARDENS. 455 



The reason for such classification becomes apparent in the grouping 

 of plants similar in form, structure, and habits; and the comparison 

 of many such plants impresses on the child's mind the characteristics 

 of families, genera, and species in the most forcible manner. What 

 cultivation will do by way of increasing the vigor of plants and mak- 

 ing them blossom and fruit more freely is fully illustrated every 

 season. Pupils learn that they can be instrumental in starting the 

 wonderful development of plants. They learn how Nature provides 

 for the continuance of species by storing up food in seeds, roots, and 

 fruit, and protecting delicate organs by impervious gums, imbricated 

 coverings, and woolly packings. Lessons in human economy are 

 learned from the study of vegetable economy. The mutual depend- 

 ence of insects and plants is seen to be characteristic of mutual de- 

 pendence in the world at large. 



The school garden affords by far the best means for the cultiva- 

 tion of the powers of observation. Pupils find excellent forms to 

 draw, colors to imitate, habits to describe, and motives to use in 

 decorative design. They find something to take care of, something 

 that quickly responds to love's labor, and as interest is added to inter- 

 est they lay up for themselves resources for happiness that should 

 be the heritage of every child, even the poorest city child; and this 

 would be so if school authorities and the people behind them had 

 more real insight into children's best natures, more foresight, more 

 humanity, and more liberality in the purchase and equipment of 

 school grounds. 



To spend large sums of money on architectural beauties and stone 

 carvings of historic ornaments — which have but little attraction for 

 children — to make a school building look like a palace, and then to 

 leave the school yard looking like a desert or the top of a bituminous 

 lake, without a single attractive flower or one bit of beauty, are in- 

 consistencies which seem possible only in the modern system of edu- 

 cation. Weather-beaten houses in the country, log cabins on the 

 frontiers, railroad stations in the " Great American Desert " and all 

 over our country have their beautiful flower gardens, and it refreshes 

 one's soul to see them; but there is no such source of refreshment, 

 inspiration, and instruction where children are being educated in the 

 " essentials." 



Once in a while some discerning man, outside of the regular 

 school interests, sees the inconsistency of educational systems, and 

 gives expression to his thoughts on the subject, as Lowell did in his 

 letter to a student, and as Hamilton W. Mabie has done in his Essays 

 on Nature and Culture. Mr. Mabie says : " Relationship with 

 Nature is a resource of inexhaustible delight and enrichment; to 

 establish it ought to be as much a part of every education as the 



