VOLUME 



ORGANIZED: 

 KNOWLEDGE 



, /x STORY 

 AND X PICTURE 



NINE 



SCHOOL GARDEN. In the great movement 

 which has as its slogan "Back to the farm," the 

 school garden is having no slight influence. To- 

 day there are in Europe over 100,000 gardens 

 cultivated by pupils, and the School Garden 

 Association of America has members in every 

 state in the Union and in most of the Canadian 

 provinces, as well as in the dependencies of the 

 United States. A garden is a practical labora- 

 tory in which the pupils gain first-hand knowl- 

 edge of the principles of nature study, agricul- 

 ture, botany, manual training and physical 

 exercise, and gardening is easily correlated with 

 arithmetic, geography, drawing, composition, 

 bookkeeping and other school subjects. Further- 

 more, the cultivation of the soil is of funda- 

 mental importance in helping solve the prob- 

 lem of keeping the world's population fed. 

 School gardens are, therefore, an advantage 

 from every point of view. 



Best results are achieved in those communi- 

 ties where the school garden is conducted as a 

 part of the regular curriculum, and the board 

 provides a specially trained instructor to direct 

 the regular teachers and to supervise the work. 

 At the same time much has been accom- 

 plished by schools not so fortunately provided 

 for. In some communities the gardening has to 

 be done outside of regular school hours, but 

 even so the results have been such as to create 

 favorable interest in the movement throughout 

 the community. The question of space is also 

 a problem that must be dealt with, differently 

 in different localities. If possible, the school- 

 garden plots should be in or adjacent to the 

 school yard. If it is impracticable to give each 

 pupil a separate plot to take care of, the garden 

 may be divided into rows. Every pupil should 

 have a definite work to do, and be required to 

 record the results of his work in a permanent 

 booklet. Where the space is very limited the 

 teacher should encourage the planting of win- 

 dow-box gardens. Even the borders along the 

 edges of yards can be utilized. 



In addition to the advantages already men- 

 tioned a school garden is an economic gain of 

 329 



no mean importance. The money value of what 

 such a garden can produce is often surprising; 

 the lessons the pupils learn from turning labor 

 into cash or its equivalent is in the highest de- 

 gree educational. Here many boys and girls 

 discover for the first time that wealth lies in- 

 herent in the soil. It may be that the home 

 consumes all the products of a garden plot, but 

 even so, the lesson conveyed need lose none of 

 its emphasis. 



In the articles BOYS' AND GIRLS' CLUBS and 

 GARDENING will be found the practical details one 

 needs to know in carrying on gardening work of 

 this nature. The Division of Home and School 

 Gardens, of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, will respond to all requests for help 

 and information. See, also, list of Related Sub- 

 jects, in article GARDENING. 



SCHOPENHAUER, sho'penhouer, ARTHUR 

 (1788-1860), a German scholar who formulated 

 a system of pessimistic philosophy. He be- 

 lieved that the only "necessary reality in the 

 universe is will," and by will he meant blind 

 force, capricious and contrary as often as it was 

 rational. There is, therefore, no reason to be- 

 lieve that things will ever be better. To secure 

 happiness one must restrain all desires and 

 appetites and aspire to a condition of negation 

 similar to the Nirvana of Buddhism (which 

 see). Schopenhauer was born in Danzig, Prus- 

 sia. In 1809 he began the study of medicine 

 at Gottingen University, but abandoned it for 

 the study of philosophy; in 1813 he was gradu- 

 ated from the University of Jena. Between 

 1814 and 1818 he made Dresden his home, 

 writing at this time his greatest work, The 

 World as Will and Idea. Later he endeavored 

 to lecture in Berlin in opposition to Hegel, the 

 apostle of idealism, but was unsuccessful (see 

 HEGEL, GEORG WILHELM). Disappointed and 

 embittered, he removed to Frankfort-on-the- 

 Main, where he spent several years in seclusion. 

 Late in his life and after his death the fame he 

 had longed for attached itself to his name. 

 Though he overemphasized the tragic aspect 

 of life, he performed a worthy service in the 

 field of speculation. 

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