children's garden conference. 189 



The present demand for teachers in this subject would not warrant 

 every student in paying so much attention to this subject were there no 

 other gain. We, however, believe that apart from such demand this 

 kind of work furnishes a splendid opportunity to put into concrete form 

 some of the most important principles of modern pedagogy, principles 

 which ought to underlie all good teaching. 



I ought to say in closing that such preparation does not insure success- 

 ful work in this subject on the part of every graduate. This is particularly 

 true if the graduate is expected to inaugurate the school garden movement 

 in a town or village. Such inauguration needs a person of strong person- 

 ality, sanguine temperament, and much common sense. Given such a 

 person with such training and I do not fear for the results. 



Children's Gardens and the Public. 



BY FRANK M. MARSH, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, FAIRHAVEN, MASS. 



I am always glad to speak upon this question of children's gardens, 

 because of the fact that it seems to me to be a movement Which perhaps 

 above all others may be an entering wedge to really enrich the school life 

 of our boys and girls, and at the same time, plant roots and ideas which 

 may result in a more wholesome, more enjoyable, and possibly more prof- 

 itable life. 



It is a clearly recognized fact that all our education in the past decade 

 has been toward the city and toward urban conditions. This tendency 

 has developed so many evils both in overcrowding the city conditions and 

 in depopulating the covmtry towns and villages that it seems to me any 

 movement which may serve as a check to the unwise migration to city 

 and commercial and manufacturing centers may be worthy of encourage- 

 ment. The whole subject of better rural conditions and more wise use 

 of the uncultivated areas of New England would mean a happier and 

 more profitable life for many of the young men and women who drift 

 into the humdrum, unsatisfying, and sometimes destructive conditions 

 which they attempt to cope with in the crowded centers. It seems to me 

 that these conditions may be checked at least, if there can be developed 

 a more wholesome respect for rural life and a more intelligent application 

 of the efforts of young men and \\omen to the cultivation of the soil and 

 the establishment of attractive homes. 



After these most excellent papers which have just been listened to by 

 you with so much interest, from the attention which has been given to 

 this subject in the last few years, and after many successful experiments 

 on a small scale, I think there is at this time, not much need for argument 

 in a gathering of this sort, in favor of children's gardens or in favor of 

 attention to horticultural and agricultural betterment. 



