INDIANA irOKTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 299 



gardener. Admit it. Anj- one of us may learn and be able to answer 

 many of them, and the preparing of ourselves to do so enlarges our 

 how to get and eat its food, but to man. the highest of all animals, 

 is given the power of investigating and laiowing the why and where- 

 fore of everything about him. lie alone niay know the "whys" and 

 "wherefores" concerning every living thing and everything that grows, 

 and, having acquired tlie liuowledge, what a pleasure it is to impart 

 It to our children"! And it is wonderful how many puzzling questions 

 they can ask us, how eager they are to learn and how much they do 

 scope of view and makes life worth living. The lowest animal knows 

 learn. My gr.-indson, from colored pictures and what I told liim, learned 

 to identify most of the common birds that visited our lawn in the 

 country, when he was so young he could hardly speak plainly. This 

 aptness of very young children to learn is why I would have children's 

 gardens. 



And how I would have these gardens is what I am to say in con- 

 clusion. Of these gardens, I would have two kinds: (1) A family 

 children's garden, and (2) A school children's garden. I would have 

 tlie parents provide for themselves and their children some of the many 

 good books that are to be had upon nature study, and especially upon 

 plant life and gardening. A few will do. but the more the better. Do 

 not understand that I would have our children become bookworms and 

 botanists. Not by any means. On the contrary. I would have them 

 to see, hear, study and know the things in the AA'orld about them. 

 Books are to bo used incidentally as aids, but the great book of outdoor 

 nature should be the one most studied. There is an infinite and con- 

 tinuous pleasure in being able to intelligently see and hear things. 1 

 pity the man or woman that does not in some measure do so, and 

 books will help to do it. 



As I write this paper, a mother hen upon the lawn leads her brood 

 over it, showing them where they can get the best supply of food. 

 Just so. I would have parents lead their children into the mysteries 

 of the farm and garden and of plant life. The garden should be a family 

 affair, instead of a back-lsreaking .iol) for the wife and mother. The 

 father must and ought to take the lead in its conduct, and that he may 

 successfully do so I would have him to make a special study of the 

 common garden i)laTits and how to grow them. To the wife and mother 

 I would assign the work of supervising the adornment of the garden 

 with flowers: I would have her make it a thing of beauty. The garden 

 and hotbeds for growing plants ought to be well prepared and kept 

 so from year to year. In the garden I would allot a portion to each 

 child, and this should be his or hers in every sense of the word. The 

 love of i)roprietorship is an inherent part of our natures. We do not 

 have to wait until inalure years for it to assert itself. As I have said, 

 it is inherent in us, and asserts itself in our. earliest childhood, and 



