AMONG SCHOOL GARDENS 



France, since 1880, has recognized the school 

 garden in the curriculum of her elementary schools. 

 By order of the French Ministry of Education, 

 courses in the normal schools are made to include 

 such instruction as will enable graduate teachers 

 "to carry to the elementary schools an exact 

 knowledge of the soil, the means of improving it, 

 methods of cultivation, management of a farm 

 and garden/'* The French Ministry states that 

 the main object is "not to teach the business of 

 farming but to inspire a love for the country and 

 to develop the natural tendencies of children to 

 become interested in flowers, birds, etc." This is 

 the law, but in practice the school gardens as late 

 as 1902 were universally maintained more for 

 the benefit of the teachers, many of whom are 

 enthusiastic horticulturists, than for the welfare 

 of the child. It is only since 1902 that gardens 

 have been attached to the rural schools and con- 

 ducted more and more from the new viewpoint. 



Russia, like France, requires every school re- 

 ceiving public funds to maintain a garden for 

 flowers and vegetables and also a plot for orchard 

 and forest trees, and, in addition, an apiary. 

 Short summer courses are provided for teachers. 

 Seeds and books are furnished free, and traveling 

 instructors are sent to see that the gardens are 

 well laid out, properly started, and the courses 



♦Addis, Wilford: Courses in Agriculture in the Higher Elementary 

 Schools of France. U. S. Bureau of Education. Report of Com- 

 missioners for 1889-1890, Vol. H., pp. 1007-1013. 



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