One of the things that surprised them was the interest taken by the 

 Governments in the advancement of agricultural education. They were 

 greatly impressed by the means taken to bring science and scientific 

 methods to the door of every farmer in the land through freely distributed 

 bulletins and reports. Special notice is given the work of the Experi- 

 ment Stations, Farmers' Institutes, Women's Institutes, Seed Distribu- 

 tion, and Co-operative Experimenting. They urge an adoption of simi- 

 lar methods for Britain, in order the better to meet competition. 



Hitherto, in our Province, this Governmental interest in education 

 has been directed towards the men and women, and over the heads of 

 the boys and girls. We wish here to help to give it a more natural direc- 

 tion. For the rural schools, it is hoped that an acquaintance with the 

 Experimental Union may be good. At the present time it is too much 

 to expect the one-master country school to undertake technical educa- 

 tion in agriculture in a school garden. Nearly all conditions are unfavor- 

 able. But by joining in the work of the Union much may be accomplished. 



For the urban schools, it is hoped that the information on home 

 gardening may be helpful. It is not meant for those schools that have 

 worked out already their own schemes for gardening, but for those that 

 need a statement of the experiences of others before commencing. 



PLACE OF GARDENING IN EDUCATION. 



The intention had originally been to offer some plans, suggestions 

 and instruction. Investigation, however, on the subject of school-gard- 

 ening throughout the Province forced us to the conclusion that neither 

 the country nor the teaching profession was ready for undertaking it. 

 Although Departmental approval and material encouragement were 

 offered in November, 1903, no schools seem to have taken up the work. 

 It is true there are six regularly organized gardens — five in Carleton 

 county, and one in Guelph, in connection with the Consolidated School — 

 but these are all under the special care and patronage of the Macdonald 

 Fund. It is also true that gardening is carried on in school flower plots 

 in many places, but it is not often the school gardening as understood 

 ordinarily in educational terminology. 



School Gardening is a school subject of European origin. In the 

 schools of France, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland 

 it has been taught for years. The reason for its being is very largely an 

 economic one. It is to increase the productiveness of the land and en- 

 hance the wealth of the State. Nor has it failed. In France, for ex- 

 ample, their system of agricultural education, of which the school garden 

 is a chief part, is credited with having doubled the resources of that 

 country in recent years. No doubt it has its cultural value, but the eco- 

 nomic side is the one emphasized. It is this form of school gardening 

 that finds encouragement now in other parts of the world, such as the 

 "Wer.t Indies, New Zealand, and some of the Australian States. It is not 

 imeant that this feature of it is ignored here. For our rural schools, it 



la bull. 152 



