136 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



sively towards mercantile pursuits. Nearly all the practical proV)- 

 lems in our arithmetics are mercantile, — there is hardly ever one 

 relating to manufacturing, and it maj' be said never one relating 

 to agriculture. The examples in the text-books on book-keeping 

 are drawn from the store, the bank, and the railroad. It is easj' 

 to see that with such text-books the school training and general 

 instruction now given must tend strongly to draw our youth away 

 from the farm, the garden, and Nature, notwithstanding the 

 almost universal natural inclination of childhood to enjoy working 

 in the soil and seeing and cultivating flowers and other crops. 

 Under these circumstances there exists a great need that a strong 

 movement be made to secure the introduction into the schools, 

 of a newly arranged course of study, in which the interests of 

 agriculture and horticulture should have the full share of attention 

 to which their relative importance entitles them. 



William H. Bowker alluded to the query, Is it expedient to put 

 more into the curriculum of our schools ? and then declared he was 

 heartily in sympathy with Dr. Rounds, and not at all so with the 

 objection that the school course is already crowded. He had 

 with him at his farm last summer, two bright Boston boys, now 

 going through the Latin School ; one his own son, the other the son 

 of a city friend. He was one daj- going over the farm with them, 

 accompanied also by five English bo^'s — sons of his foreman — of 

 whom two were of the same ages as the American boj's. As they 

 passed along he would ask questions about various objects they 

 saw, — plants, rocks, water, air, etc. The Boston-taught boys 

 knew nothing about them, but the P^nglish lads answered nearly 

 every question. He then asked the names of the capitals of the 

 countries of South America, — also questions about the regions in 

 Africa in which Stanley had travelled so widely. The New Eng- 

 land boys were quite ready to give answer to these questions, of 

 Avhich the English boj's had not been taught. They had, however, 

 been taught to observe and study Nature, — the things they could 

 see ; the Boston boys, on the contrary had not been taught to 

 study things around them, but to stud}' about things distant from 

 them. Even our country-bred boy or man does not appreciate the 

 great resources of the countr}' for enjoyment ; beautiful scenery 

 in combination, — mines of knowledge and exquisite pleasure if 

 studied in detail. He was glad to hear of a proposed course 

 of training in "art appreciation," and believed it would be well to 



