TEACHING HORTICULTURE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 215 



they set about any particular work, they can go at it with a will, de- 

 termined to understand it from top to bottom. Take two boys with 

 the same natural capacity, but who have received different training- 

 and education. One has simplj^ committed lessons to memory and 

 contented himself with acquiring- information, while the other 

 strode ahead, grasping and developing every idea that came in the 

 way of his work. The former will, in the end, be like the one that 

 got into the cars at Springfield, Mass., and took a seat with me. In 

 reply to my questions about Springfield and what he was doing 

 there, he said he was filing gunlocks in the armory and that he had 

 occupied the same spot for thirty years. In all that time he had not 

 moved out of his tracks, and he had worn holes through the floor 

 twice while working at his trade. Now he fancied he could file gun 

 locks better than any other man in the United States. With all that 

 practice he, no doubt, told the truth; but at the same time I warrant 

 you he was good for nothing else. All that man ever did for the 

 world, in fact, all he could do, was to file those gunlocks. The other 

 one, in a little while, will understand all about that machine shop, 

 from turret to foundation stone; and pretty soon he will be building 

 machine shops as much superior to that in which he is working as 

 that is to those of fifty years ago. He will see where all the faults 

 are, see how to make improvements, because he has been thinking, 

 studying and developing all his mental powers from the day he left 

 school until he went into the shop, and, while there, at every step of 

 his way, he took an interest in what he was doing, all the time cudg- 

 elling his brain to discover some better way. That was the secret 

 of his success. If one takes an interest in what he does, his task is 

 no longer drudgery; it is pleasant work that will make him stronger 

 and more robust and will help him to get more good out of life. 



Does it follow, from what has been said, that nothing can be done 

 in the public schools in the way of teaching horticulture? With the 

 right kind of teacher much can be done by giving direction to the 

 mind of the child. Every day something will come up in the recita- 

 tion, something may be introduced as an illustration that will have 

 a direct bearing upon the subject and turn the mind pleasantly to- 

 ward it. Have the boy or girl master the lesson assigned, then let 

 something collateral — in the horticultural line, perhaps — that has 

 come under the scholar's own observation, be considered in connec- 

 tion with it, and let him think for himself and see if he cannot find 

 the link which joins the two, so that each will throw additional light 

 upon the other, and each will be more clearly understood by reason 

 of the incidental help thus obtained. On the subject of horticulture 

 such a fact can be brougtit up as that the fruit of the apple is the 

 seed, that the pulp is merely an enlargement of the protecting en- 

 velope. In that way he will see how that fruit has been made what 

 it is today by scientific cultivation, tending to intensify this desira- 

 ble condition — and his mind can be developed in the same way 

 in any required direction. The more he thinks and studies about 

 such things, and the more interest he takes in them, the more will 

 he want to know. Then he will come to the teacher with his ques- 

 tions, and the teacher, if he knows his business, will not give him a 

 direct answer, but will ask other questions that will lead him to 



