Growing Children in California Gardens 



Cyril A. Stebbixs. 

 University of California 



II' c groz\: tioz\.'ers, vegetables and children in (.an for ma gardens. 



A prize polyphemus-moth, gorgeous in its colors, magnif- 

 icent in its expanse of four inches, came to us from the fairy- 

 land of butterflies and moths less than a year ago. The follow- 

 ing day we found her dead with forty odd eggs to complete 

 the embryonic chain. We marveled at Nature's mysteries as 

 she helped the young caterpillars from the egg and started them 

 on the long way. Each day we fed the young, but we, in our 

 ignorance, failed to satisfy their needs. We interfered with the 

 water supply, we gave food which we felt they ought to have. 

 All but four died, and these four were undersized. 



\ ixEiLAXi) School 

 Gardex, Lixcolx 



Co.. OXTARIO. 



ii "1 ijj.wiiij i;v -. i;. 



MC CREADV. 



A boy is no more a miniature man than a larva is a moth. 

 He is the caterpillar stage of a man, the growing stage. Inter- 

 ference with nature in producing a moth results in a weak moth. 

 Interference with nature in building a man results in a weak 

 man. The factor of growth, the factor of evolution, must be 

 taken into consideration in any sane system of education. 



The amoeba w^as the lowest form of animal life. It was 

 potential in all those factors which made for a complicated 

 animal. It carried on its processes of metabolism primitive- 

 ly with no specialized organs. After thousands of years the 

 small beginnings of a digestive system began to appear in sac 

 like animals such as the sea anemone. The mysterious driv- 

 ing power for perfection slowly but irresistibly fashioned still 

 higher animals which had to meet changing situations, some- 

 times dangerous, sometimes otherwise. Thus the animals shaped 

 themselves to meet their developing needs, and the system of 

 muscles arose. Tyler says a muscle is like a steam engine. It 



67 



