IRISH GARDENING. 



179 



Vegetables* 



How TO (JROW .\M> lOxiIIIUT THEM. 



This was tiie title ol' an excellent lecture delivered 

 to Dublin Plotholder.s by Mr. \\ . Tyndall in the 

 Technical Schools, on ;]Oth November. Mr. 

 Tyndall is well known as the capable and ener- 

 aetic Horticultural Instructor for Co. .J\ildare. 

 From start to finish the lecturer maintoined the 

 interest oi his audience, who were obviously out 

 lor all the information they could get — a fact 

 thai was demonstrated by the large number of 

 intelligent questions asked at the close of the 

 lecture. J-Jeginning with a general exhortation as 

 to the necessity of thorougidy cultivating the 

 -oil. maintaining it at a Idgh pilch of fertility, 

 the lecturer then proceeded to take the principal 

 \egetables seriatim, emphasising the chief cul- 

 tural details in each case. Bearing in mind that 

 his object was to instruct plotholders in the 

 growing of vegetables of the highest quality , fit 

 for exhibition, Mr. Tyndall missed nothing that 

 could possibly occur to an old exhibitor like 

 himself. Not only did he give complete cultural 

 details regarding dates of sowing or planting for 

 sho\\s at dii'ferent dates, but lie also advised as 

 to the best methods of exhibiting, pointing out 

 that the largest produce would not necessarily 

 take the judge's eye. As he proceeded the 

 lecturer touched briefly on pests and disease, 

 giving brief directions for dealing with each. 

 A great mauj' ciuestions were asked by members 

 ot the audience, who gave the lecturer a very 

 \varm ovation, and were obviou ly delighted with 

 what was certainly a most enjoyable and profit- 

 able evening. 



Rural Education, 



By L. J. IIujiPHKEY. (Jrganiser, Eural Science 

 and Horticulture. 



I.v many countries much thought has been given 

 to the problem of retaining in the ruial districts 

 labour for the land. Agriculturists have realised 

 that without sufticient labour the industry could 

 not progress, and agricultural countries have seen 

 their hopes of prosperity diminishing as the 

 difficulty of retaining labour increased. It is not 

 the purpose of this article to deal with the causes 

 of the rural exodus or with many of the ways by 

 which the boys and the girls could be induced 

 to remain to reap the harvests the soil supplies 

 to those who understand it. But in that under- 

 standing of the soil lies perhaps at least a partial 

 solution of the problem. If by some means the 

 country dwellers could be brought to know the 

 soil as the gardener knows it, more could be 

 produced from the soil, raore people could be 

 maintained by its harvests, and fewer boys and 

 girls would need to leave the village for tlie town. 

 But that is not all that would result. To under- 

 stand is to become interested and to discover 

 that the soil is a storehouse which yields its 

 supplies only to those who dig and delve in it. 

 Once that interest in the soil and its products 

 is aroused, the attractions of the city would And 

 their chief rival in the real and vital interests of 

 country life : in the flocks and herds, in the 

 crops, the trees and hedges, and in all that makes 

 life in the coimtry one of progress and not stagna- 



tion. If that interest m country affairs is not 

 aroused, then no pale reflections' of city attrac- 

 tions will keep youth in the country or lure it 

 back when the city has once claimed it. 



r rom time to time the rural schools have been 

 blamed for giving boys and girls an education 

 which neglected the rural outlook and made a 

 gulf between the home life and the school. It 

 is not very surprising if country schools did 

 provide such an education, for education is a 

 training of the mind and not an apprenticeship 

 for a career. A teacher in a primary school has 

 befoi-e him the plain duty to lead those minds 

 under his care to the highest level they cai^reach. 

 He employs the materials which long usage and 

 custom have shown him are of value in developing 

 growing intelligences similar to those with A\hich 

 he has to deal. Reading, winting, arithmetic, 

 history and geography are taught by methods 

 long familiar to teachers. They are the vehicles 

 througli which the mental training has been con- 

 veyed, but some teachers And that something is 

 needed to add to these lessons which have been 

 taught to successive generations of pupils. They 

 turn to the garden for inspiration. 



In the garden, under the teacher's eye, the 

 boy or girl learns to observe, and by and by to 

 reason from his observations. He learns as he 

 digs the soil to enable him to grow the seeds he 

 is studying, to use his brain to direct his muscles. 

 He trains his eyes to see things as they are, 

 estimating and comparing distances, setting out 

 lines and plants, and correcting his judgment by 

 measurement and calculation. After a spring- 

 time of planting and a sunnner of work under 

 the guiding teacher the boy who has worked in 

 the school garden knows what he can grow in 

 his plot and something of how it grows. " So far 

 froni the garden interrupting his education, it has 

 been made the means of education. The boy 

 may not know how to grow the heaviest crops. 



Apple, Stirling Castle at Cahkigohan, Co. Clare 

 See Article bv ]\Ir. Barker in Nove.iober issue. 



