THE SCHOOL-GARDEN 59 



to the importance of caring for the school premises 

 and to the necessity of bringing the child into 

 sympathy with its environment. Then, here and 

 there, the school-garden, for purposes of definite 

 instruction, will be instituted. In the country 

 districts the school-garden will come slowly, because 

 gardens are so common as to lose their interest, and 

 because the rural schools are often small and weak. 

 Higher ideals of agriculture at home, nature-study 

 in the school, consolidation of weak districts — these 

 are the means that will bring the real school-garden 

 to the rural school. 



But there is a broader significance to the growing 

 of plants than that associated with mere gardening 

 or with the furnishing of schoolroom material 

 alone. There are national aspects. Children in 

 the home and school should be interested in horti- 

 culture and agriculture as a means of introduction 

 to nature. Farming introduces the human element 

 into nature and thereby makes it more vivid in 

 the child's mind. More than half the people of 

 the United States live outside the cities. More 

 people are engaged in farming than in any other 

 single occupation. The children in the schools 

 are taught much about the cities, but little about 

 the farming country. The child should be taught 

 something from the farmer's point of view. This 

 will broaden the child's horizon and quicken his 

 sympathies. Every person is now supposed to 

 know something of the country. He will spend 

 part of his vacations therein. The more knowl- 

 edge he has of farming methods the more these 



