A Work for Horticultural Societies and the School 



S. Silcox, Principal, Normal School, Stratford, Ontario 



WHEN a country has been denuded 

 of its primitive forest and arti- 

 ficial products have replaced nat- 

 ural vegetable growth, it becomes essen- 

 tial for the inhabitants to beautify the 



School-kouie Bare and Unadorned 



An unimproved opportunity, and there are hun- 

 dreds of others like it in Canada. 



bare and unattractive landscape with a 

 second growth of flowers and shrubbery. 

 Any one who travels through Ontario 

 will discover that people have lived in 

 houses for ten, fifteen or twenty years 

 and have planted nothing to make those 

 houses homes in the true' sense of the 

 word. This is more inexcusable when we 

 consider that within a mile or two of any 

 house in Ontario may be found shrubs, 

 vines and annuals which could easily and 

 successfully be transplanted to the 

 grounds of homes or schools, where they 

 would transform the barren surroundings 

 into bowers of beauty. The reason this 

 is not done is due to one of two things, 

 ignorance or lack of interest in anything 

 better than that which exists, or probably 

 to both. 



What can be done to change this state 

 of affairs? It seems to me that there are 

 only two organizations in Ontario which 

 can bring about a change but these or- 

 ganizations are equal to the task. They 

 are the public school and the horticul- 

 tural societies and the latter will do their 

 best work by using the former for the 

 medium of transmitting their views. Of 

 course this means that school gardens 

 should be established in connection with 

 our schools, more particularly in our city 

 .schools. One teacher who has done 

 good work in connection with a small 

 city school in the way of decorating a 

 very inattractive backyard says : 



"The garden gives pupils a practical 

 lesson in the rights of citizens. When 

 they have assisted in digging, planting 

 and weeding, they have a sense of owner- 

 ship in the garden and they expect that 

 it will be allowed to grow and flourish, 

 unmolested by the passerby; tlierofore, 

 they do not pick the flowers or interfere 

 with the property of their neighbors. 



"Anything that opens the eyes of the 



child, even a little, to see the beauty 

 of color and form in the world about us 

 or that helps to show him how a little 

 expense and labor will transform what 

 was ugly into a delight is well worth 

 while. For example our fences and out- 

 buildings are now a 'thing of beauty' in 

 their dress of morning glories, upon 

 which the eye rests with pleasure. 



"Our garden serves as a means of 

 beautifying their own homes. The child- 

 ren are at liberty to pick the seeds of any 

 of the seed-bearing plants and the ger- 

 aniums are broken into slips and given 

 to the children with instructions for 

 planting them. 



"We also have a few plants in our 

 windows throughout the winter. These 

 give a cosy look to the room and serve 

 as a rest for tired eyes. 



"Incidentally, the children learn the 

 value of birds, bees and beneficial in- 

 sects ; also something of the formation 

 of soil. We rake and then burn the 

 leaves and old plants on one of the beds, 

 the ashes being thus preserved for a fer- 

 tilizer or bury the leaves (all but the 

 first to fall which are burned to destroy 

 the insects) that they may decompose 

 and so enrich the soil." 



It may be well to sound a warning 

 note, through the medium of The Can- 

 adian HoRTicuLTUKiST, against the false 

 nature study which teachers are so apt 

 to resort to in the ordinary class room. 

 About seventy-five per cent, of the les- 

 sons in this subject are not as valuable 

 as lessons in grammar, geography or 

 literature, because they are not the re- 

 sult of the children's experience nor do 

 they incite the children to acquiring ex- 

 perience with nature first hand. Let this 

 be the test of success in nature study — 

 more outdoor study and less class-room 



work, more beauty created and less talk 

 about the beauty of creation. 



Polyanthus 



Editor, The Canadian Horticultur- 

 ist : How very seldom one finds the 

 charming spring flower Polyanthus 

 (Primula Polyanthus) in Canadian gar- 

 dens. It is one of the oldest of all the 

 florists' flowers, and in Old Country gar- 

 dens it has its thousands of votaries. 

 Three or four years ago I imported two 

 or three packets of seed from a seed firm 

 in England, and from these seeds I have 

 had some splendid plants. They flower 

 about the same time as tulips, and I 

 have them in bunches in my peony bed. 

 After they are finished flowering, I divide 

 the roots, and get numbers of new 

 sturdy plants for re-planting and distri- 

 bution among my friends. 



Sow the seed in February, March or 

 April in pans or boxes, and when large 

 enough, transplant to the place in the 

 garden where you wish them to grow. 

 They will flower the following spring. 



They are perfectly hardy, and I never 

 remember having any of them winter- 

 killed ; they get no protection, excepting 

 nature's snow, in my garden. 



There is an indescribable charm in 

 spring about a bed of young polyanthus 

 flowering for the first time. — J. C. Hodg- 

 son, Westmount, Que. 



An excellent subject among trees for 

 planting on the lawn is the cut-leaved 

 weeping birch, but it should not be 

 planted too promiscuously. An occa- 

 sional specimen is very striking when 

 planted individually on the lawn or 

 backed by trees of darker foliage and 

 b;.rk. 



Outhoaiet and Fence Covered with Morning Glory — Work of School Children 



Boys' yard. Manitoba street school. St. Thomas, Ont., Miss A. MoOoU, Principal, 

 work done by pupils of first and second book classes. 



All the 



