90 The Nature-Study Idea 



The larger relations 



There is a broader significance to the grow- 

 ing of plants, as indicated in the foregoing 

 catalogue, than that associated with mere gar- 

 den-making or with the furnishing of school- 

 room material alone. There are social and 

 national aspects. Children in the home and 

 school should be interested in horticulture and 

 agriculture as a means of introduction to nature. 

 Farming introduces the human element into 

 nature and thereby makes it more vivid in the 

 child's mind. More than half the people of 

 the United States live outside the cities. More 

 persons are engaged in farming than in any 

 other single occupation. The children in the 

 schools are taught much about the cities, but 

 little about the farming country. The child 

 should be taught something from the farmer's 

 point of view, and the teaching of gardening is 

 one of the ways in which to begin. This will 

 broaden the child's horizon and quicken his 

 sympathies. Every person is now supposed to 

 know something of the country. He will spend 

 part of his vacations therein. The more knowl- 



