Horticultural Education. 51 



of the state, is a matter that should not, and does not require argu- 

 ment. 



Of the hundreds of men whose opinion I have secured upon this 

 matter, not one has denied its right in the Public School curriculum. All 

 these, however, have given their assent on the ground that it is a good, 

 •economic proposition for all to be informed on the subject. There is 

 another side, however, more important than the first, and that is that 

 it enables the teacher to follow natural lines along which the pupils' 

 •desires may be the more readily stimulated. 



If the human soul were a machine that could be wound up like 

 a watch, then it would be unnecessary to excite the desires. Then, too. 

 it would be unnecessary to follow any given line for the sake of greater 

 efficiency, for the abstract and concrete would then appeal alike to 

 the pupil and no stimulous could change the desires. Then would the 

 •cramming process be the proper process, and the "Machine School," 

 with its "Intellectual Hopper" grind out its uniform, and unchangeable 

 grist, be the School and only School that need apply. Happily, however, 

 man is not a machine. He is not an automaton. He has varying de- 

 sires. His tendencies may take different directions as the years pasi 

 "by, therefore, the above maxim. Teaching, both in matter and method, 

 must be adapted to the capability of the taught. 



No one will say that the capabilities of the pupil of seven are equal 

 to that of the pupil of fourteen. If there is a difference in power, there 

 must of necessity be some difference in the matter presented. 



If the student of fourteen wishes to find the unknown quantity, 

 "would it not be reasonably supposed that mathematics and philosophy 

 ■would necessarily appeal to him as the proper topic to take up for 

 special study? 



If the student of seven wishes to know why God paints the flowers 

 and gives them such various colors, why the vines do not bear acorns 

 and the trees pumpkins, should they not be permitted to follow the 

 trend of their inherent desires and find somewhere an answer to their 

 •earnest inquiry? Is there any law in Pedagogy that would deny or for- 

 I)id an answer to honest inquiry at seven and grant it at fourteen? 



No educator will deny but that knowledge can be taught only b.v 

 ■occasioning or stimulating the appropriate activities of the pupil's 

 mind. 



What then are the appropriate activities of the child mind? Are 

 Ithey to be found in the domain of abstractions, or natural objects? 

 Philosophy or the plant? The tree, the flower, the horse, the toad, 

 the ant, the toad stool, the peony, or a proposition in geometry? 



