130 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1900. 



improvements in methods, cannot do anything else or learn new 

 methods, and so become tramps or criminals. 



The stream is flowing from the country to the city. The first 

 generation comes to the city as skilled laborers, the second be- 

 comes unskilled laborers, and the third has usually degenerated, 

 into the criminal class. To correct this, in some measure, 

 handwork should be introduced into every grade in the schools. 



Dr. Hodge then told of the work he has been doing in ill tro- 

 ts o 



ducing nature work of various kinds into the schools, and said 

 that he thought parents and teachers ought to encourage and 

 stimulate this kind of work. If every school pupil in Worcester 

 could be set to work in a small garden of his or her own, raising 

 just what was most needed in the home, either plants for food 

 or flowers to make the home cheerful and bright, Dr. Hodge 

 said that he believed the result would be that the crops, even in 

 actual market values, would fully pay for the entire schooling 

 of the city. At the same time the children would be learning 

 lessons of great value to them, would be getting into touch with 

 nature, and would be gaining a feeling of resourcefulness that 

 would make them better men and women for all time. 



