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tutions, and the desirability of their general establishment in Ameri- 
can cities, and their maintenance by municipal appropriations. 
Course for Teachers——One of the chief obstacles to the gen- 
eral inauguration of children’s gardens is the lack of adequately 
trained teachers. A beginning has been made in this work in one 
or two places, but adequate preparation demands a course that 
will extend over the entire period of garden work, so that all 
phases of it may be covered and properly illustrated. Moreover, 
it is desirable to have the course given at a center where there is 
ample ground to cultivate, a full equipment of gardening appli- 
ances and accessories, and where there is a staff of teachers and 
expert gardeners, competent to give thorough instruction, not only 
in actual garden operations, but in the fundamental principals of 
plant life, in nature study, and in such related subjects as the care 
of house plants, the construction and management of cold frames 
and hot beds, and in the educational theory underlying the work. 
It is also essential to have actual classes of children available, one 
as a practice school, and another as a model school. In other 
words, the aim should be, not merely the training, but the educa- 
tion of teachers, so that their work may be pursued, not as a trade, 
but as a profession; that they may be able, not merely to carry 
through, more or less blindly or mechanically, a series of opera- 
tions and processes according to a program or schedule drawn up 
for them by someone else, but that they may understand in a 
broad, scholarly way the educational significance and bearing of 
their work, that they may have an intelligent grasp of the funda- 
mental problems connected with it, and may be able to make sub- 
stantial and helpful contributions toward the working out of satis- 
factory solutions of these problems. 
The Garden has, at present, an admirable beginning of equip- 
ment for this work. What we need is a larger financial support 
so that it may be expanded. The children’s garden movement is 
more than a fad; it is a permanent contribution to elementary 
education, meeting an actual need which cannot well be met in 
any other way, and the demand for adequately prepared super- 
visors and teachers is constantly increasing. To endow this work 
at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden would be to render a lasting and 
valuable service to elementary education, 

