1898.] ESSAYS. 79 



and best information and much substantial aid in the near future. 

 Professor Mayuard sees no objection to asking the children to 

 undertake the cultivation of fruits as well as flowers. Encourage 

 a child, for example, to plant a bed of strawberries. If it was no 

 more than a yard square, or even a single plant, he might learn 

 their manner of growth and propagation ; and, with some of our 

 best varieties, would certainly surprise his teachers and parents, 

 as well as himself, with the size and quantity he could grow. 

 Arrangements have already been made to begin this in some of 

 the schools the coming spring. Then there is the whole list of 

 small fruits, — raspberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries, 

 — as well as grapes, peaches, cherries and even apples, each one 

 of which any child might have something to do with actually 

 propagating and growing during his school course. 



But the subject is even wider. In the study of each plant 

 the children will find it necessary to learn something about the 

 insect pests that feed upon it and the numerous fungous diseases 

 that attack it. At this point, we come to the chief reason why 

 the Horticultural Society should take hold of the work, and why 

 it could not do better than to operate through the public schools. 

 The reason is that many of these insect pests and fungous dis- 

 eases cannot be successfully dealt with by single individuals. 

 They are no respecters of city lot fences, and it is useless for 

 one man to begin the fight, unless his neighbors all join in. 

 The great need at present is the laying of a solid foundation of 

 common knowledge about these things underneath the whole 

 community. How can we do this, except by working through 

 our schools? It is a splendid system, and the only one we have, 

 which touches every home in the city. I am aware that in try- 

 ing to introduce new lines of, so called, science work into the 

 school course, parents are apt to say : "I did not have to learn 

 any of this stuff, and what was good enough for me is good 

 enough for my boy." I used to think this was a hard way of 

 looking at things, but now I am glad people take this view of it. 

 It simply necessitates that we make the work so good that 

 parents will say instead : "I had no chance to learn these things 



