No. 4.1 NATURE STUDY. 215 



to follow the method by which the race has developed it. 

 It* the children of a neighborhood make the raising of fruits 

 and flowers impossible, a far better remedy than is afforded 

 by police consists in getting them interested in rearing fruits 

 and flowers of their own. After a child has once done the 

 work, he will feel instinctively a regard for the rights of 

 others that nothing else can give. 



Since agriculture gave rise to and established the home, 

 since love of home is one of the highest sentiments of 

 human life, and since from this we find the fountain head of 

 love of country, of laws of property and of social morals, I 

 am impelled to make the home garden the centre of my 

 plan of nature stud} r . We shall need the school garden too, 

 for class lessons and demonstrations, and to furnish mate- 

 rials for drawing and general study, so that this ma}' be ob- 

 tained fresh and at suitable times without trespassing on 

 private grounds. I shall speak of that later. 



"When we analvze for ourselves the sentiments and mem- 

 ories that cling about the home of our childhood, do we not 

 find that the fondest memories attach to the immediate sur- 

 roundings of the home, the trees and flowers that made it 

 beautiful, and especially the garden which yielded so many 

 of our childish delights ? Let us ask ourselves whether we 

 would have these wholesome sentiments and memories lack- 

 ing from the lives of our children. 



I am aware that my topic is not new. In the address of 

 the Rev. T. D. P. Stone, "Transactions of the agricultural 

 societies in the State of Massachusetts," 1849, I find the fol- 

 lowing: The address is entitled, "Means to be used to 

 create a deeper interest in the cause of agriculture." It 

 was awarded a prize of $25 at the time : — 



Why should not our New England schools, so justly our pride, 

 so truly our defence, impress young minds with a taste for culti- 

 vating fruits and flowers? . . . Our Maker has given children a 

 taste for the beautiful. He has given to cultivators of the soil the 

 power of rendering their fields, and orchards, and gardens beautiful, 

 without detracting from their profits. Still, the farmer rarely 

 thinks of anything but profit, and regards attention to taste as so 

 much wasted effort. " Flowers," said one of Hodge's descend- 



