Science and Physical Development 



to open their minds to the resources and oppor- 

 tunities of rural existence, and to the saner and 

 more wholesome atmosphere that pervades it. ... 

 Teach the children to take an interest, not only 

 in books, but in the life of the fields. Teach them 

 gardening and how to keep bees, the making of 

 cheese, and the management of a dairy." This is 

 good advice, but it is not easy to carry out. 



One of the present writers was a member of the 

 late Hendon School Board, in whose area was 

 a rural school on the borders of Edgware parish. 

 He persuaded the Board to buy a strip of land 

 next the playground with a view to future exten- 

 sion and to immediate use as a school garden. 

 But the head teacher strenuously and successfully 

 opposed the plan, and the elder boys were and are 

 taught shorthand as " more useful and practical " 

 than gardening ! Unless one of the school staff 

 loves gardening himself, it is rarely possible to 

 find any local person who can teach this subject 

 so as to give it educational value. In this respect 

 the old country may well learn from Canada, where 

 the public munificence of Sir W. C. Macdonald 

 has provided large sums to establish " object- 

 lesson" school gardens in different centres, in 

 each of which there is also the necessary equip- 

 ment for teaching domestic science and manual 

 training. 



To study this new form of education and adopt 

 it to rural needs, the teachers were first sent to 

 Cornell and Columbia Universities for courses 

 in horticulture, agriculture, and entomology, and 



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