1898.] ESSAYS. 77 



Children growing up in a civilized community, who have never 

 planted a seed, who do not know the dili'erence, who cannot tell 

 a flower [)lant from a weed ! Recent investigations have revealed 

 the Tact that most of our tramps are not foreign born, as we are 

 wont to suppose, but arc native Americans, the legitimate pro- 

 duct of our boasted public school system. During the past year 

 I have been studying tramps a little for my own enlightenment. 

 The great majority of them have been through our grade schools. 

 Some have even attended the high schools. Nine out of ten, 

 about, when asked whether they have ever planted a seed and 

 reared a plant will answer: "No." Put to work in the garden, 

 very few can tell weeds from garden plants. Most of them 

 don't even know beans, until they are baked. As far as know- 

 ing how to do a little something practical for old Mother Earth, 

 they are paralytic incapables. With our artiticial city life are 

 we not allowing ourselves to drift unnecessarily far away from 

 man's safe anchorage and universal source ot supply, the soil ? 

 This Society has surely been the sheet-anchor of Worcester in 

 this respect ; but can it not greatly increase its efficiency and 

 influence by gaining a hold on the children, before they have 

 drifted too far? 



In the experiment of flower raising, just described, some of 

 the older children hung oft' last year. This year it is being tried 

 again in the same school and every child has taken the seeds. 

 And their interest and eagerness in the work is almost pathetic. 

 In the room which had bachelor's button seeds the children were 

 given five seeds apiece, but the last little boy had only four; 

 and for two or three days, until a larger supply of seeds could 

 be obtained, he daily came to his teacher, almost with tears in 

 his e^'es, to ask : " When is my other seed coming?" So far, 

 the experiment has demonstrated how generally and how easily 

 children may be interested in raising plants, if approached in 

 the right way. And it seems on the face of it so valuable, the 

 children get so much real and delightful knowledge out of it, 

 that I am in hopes that the plan may be adopted as a feature of 

 elementary botany work throughout the schools of the city. I 

 should certainly prefer that a boy of mine learn how to raise one 

 7 



