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MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIHTY. 
SCHOOL GARDENS. 
O. M. LORD, MINNESOTA CITY. 
A distinguished fruit man of Iowa, a delegate to our annual meeting, 
said he had one criticism to offer on the Minnesota society: it was com- 
posed of old men and needed to take in the young men and women of the 
state to preserve its vitality. I could only say that in all new countries, 
guide boards were needed to keep travelers from going astray, and we old 
fellows could not be expected to do much, but we ought to be able to point 
the way. An elaborate discussion of school gardens is not desirable at 
this meeting, and I shall only attempt to call the attention of the society 
to the importance of beginning work in our line among the children. 
The common country school is still an unsolved problem. I do not 
need to picture the surroundings of the most of them, but when we 
know that environment has so much influence in the formation of character 
and habits of after life it is greatly to be regretted that early school life 
should not be surrounded with all the appliances necessary to infuse the 
mind with a love of the beautiful and a knowledge of the useful. The great 
majority of us now are, and are to be, dependent on agriculture and its 
handmaid, horticulture. It follows then, that nature-study, including plant 
life, fruits and flowers, should be a systematic part of school life. Nature 
has done her part for us. We have ample grounds, a fertile soil and 
a climate adapted to a great variety of productions and a perpetual school 
fund, self-imposed, that enables us to rank with any other people educa- 
tionally. The city schools are working under different conditions, but the 
kindergarten has been found to be the basis of much of their superior 
excellence. Some of the teachers of the city schools will claim that there 
is no room for more studies, that the pupils are now overworked, and no 
doubt this is true in some schools. The drill is all mental and intellectual, 
the physical entirely neglected. We are willing to admit that a broad 
intellect is more capable of grappling with the necessities of active life than 
a dwarfed one, but nature-study as indicated has a tendency to develop all 
the faculties, to stimulate habits of thought and of observation, and to round 
out an otherwise inccmplete life. 
The most pressing want at the present time for beginning this work is 
competent teachers. Let this state society formally ask our school workers, 
our members, our State Farmers’ Institute teachers to consider this subject, 
and the request will be cheerfully heeded, and the time not be far distant 
when every school will be supplied with a practice ground in addition to 
the play ground. 
Sweden now takes the lead of other countries, as every school there 
has a garden. Germany, France; Austria and Italy are closely following. 
There are a few schools in this country with a garden attached, and fruits, 
vegetables and flowers are planted and cared for by the pupils. Their influ- 
ence has proved most beneficent in checking the tendency for vandalism 
among the boys, and in affording a means of pleasant occupation of leisure 
time, stimulating them to habits of industry and usefulness and storing the 
mind with practical knowledge available in mature life. 
