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12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



August 27, 1908. 



the textbook system. Facts observed 

 through one of the natural senses are 

 more firmly fixed than statements mem- 

 orized. 



Well Founded Knowledge. 



Then, too, the student in possession of 

 the means of reproducing or proving a 

 law, either in the laboratory or in the 

 field, has a great advantage over him 

 who has only his memory to depend 

 upon. The one can always be certain of 

 his stand, while the other must have 

 recourse to his authority. One is in the 

 position of a skilled engineer, while the 

 other is like the artisan who works by 

 rule of thumb. The one makes its pos- 

 sessor resourceful and capable of han- 

 dling new problems; the other is good 

 for routine work only. The difference 

 in these types of education is represent- 

 ed by the apprentice system contrasted 

 with the training of a well equipped 

 technical school. One teaches the art 

 alone; the other teaches the art and the 

 theory on which it is based as well. 



Science Made Interestinsf. 



The school garden carries this type 

 of instruction into the public school in 

 a simple, direct way. The trained teacher 

 is capable of demonstrating the art in 

 a simple, way, but what is most im- 

 portant is that he is able to make a 

 story out of the scientific principles or 

 truths underlying the art. When a seed 

 is planted, the part played by heat, 

 moisture and air in the process of ger- 

 mination can be woven into a true story 

 of the wonderful awakening of life 

 which takes place. The function of the 

 seed leaves in the early life of the seed- 

 ling can easily be demonstrated by re- 

 moving one-half of each seed leaf from 

 one set of seedlings and both seed 

 leaves from another lot, and at the same 

 time comparing these with others which 

 are normal. The growth of the plants 

 so treated will indicate in a measure the 

 part the cotyledons play in the develop- 

 ment of the plant. 



Similar tests arranged to show the 

 bearing of light, moisture, heat and cold 

 upon the growth of plants can easily be 

 planned as supplements to the work of 

 growing crops in the school garden. A 

 knowledge of the theory of growth raises 

 the work of plant production from a 

 laborious task to an enjoyable art. This 

 type of instruction tends to make life 

 worth living, by making common things 

 our companions. Half the pleasure of 

 life is lost because the common things 

 that we come in contact with every day 

 bring no message to us; they are com- 

 monplace and excite no curiosity in us. 

 Tell the child the secrets of the rocks, 

 the trees and the flowers and every one 

 of these becomes a life companion in- 

 stead of a mere object, to be used or 

 destroyed according to man's necessity. 



Trainlnsf Men to Live* 



The work of education should be to 

 train men to live and, as nine-tenths of 

 • the people of the world must earn their 

 bread through their own- efforts, that 

 education which best fits them to do this 

 work makes for the upbuilding of the 

 state and nation. One-fourth to one- 

 third of the average life is spent in se- 

 ■*. ■ curing an education. That is a large 

 proportion of one's time and it should 

 be so directed by the teacher and the 

 parent that when the training period is 

 over the young man or woman will be 

 fitted to do some useful thing well. 



Do our schools, as at present conduct- 



ed, accomplish this? I am sorry to say 

 they do not. The truth is that the grad- 

 uate from our public school system finds 

 himself poorly prepared to do the work 

 of the world. It is the hope of the na- 

 ture study, school garden and manual 

 training enthusiasts that this fault will 

 be corrected by the elevation of the use- 

 ful arts to a place in the course of 

 study. 



An Ancient Agricultural SchooL 



It is not strange that our schools teach 

 abstractly. When we study the origin 

 of our cpmmon school system, we find it 

 to consist of ideas borrowed from the 

 college men and not an evolution from 

 the common conditions of life. But the 

 college itself has greatly departed from 

 its original conception. King Alfred, 

 the first great ruler of England, founded 

 Oxford and his idea was to establish a 

 school where the youth of the land 

 should be taught to do those things 

 needful in the family, on the farm and 

 for the betterment of the general com- 

 munity. Oxford was, in fact, an agri- 

 cultural college. It was founded on 

 ideas growing out of the necessities of 

 the people. This is the type of educa- 

 tion which fits men to live and to do the 

 work of the world. 



In this respect history has been shown 

 to repeat itself. The wise course adopted 

 by our nation in founding state agri- 

 cultural colleges, and by many of our 

 states in establishing rural high schools, 

 in which instruction in the useful arts 

 forms an important part of the course of 

 study, indicates that our ideas of educa- 

 tion are changing and that we are soon 

 to have a school system founded upon 

 the requirements of the people rather 

 than borrowed from the college men. The 

 nature study and school garden idea is 

 the manifestation of the desire for in- 

 struction in the practical affairs of life 

 in our public schools. This is as it 

 should be, because statistics show that 

 only about two per cent of the popu- 

 lation ever attend our colleges or uni- 

 versities. If instruction in the useful 

 arts is to be made available to those who 

 need it, the mass of the people, it must 

 be made a part of our public school 

 system. 



VHY INCORPORATE? 



Please advise me as to the advantages, 

 legal or otherwise, of a concern being 

 incorporated. It seems to be the prevail- 

 ing tendency to incorporate even small 

 concerns. H. C. 



In a partnership each partner is an 

 agent of the firm, with full powers, and 

 he may, by an injudicious or dishonest 

 use of this authority, bring the firm into 

 difficulties. All of a partner's private 

 property is liable for the debts of the 

 firm. If a partner wishes to retire he 

 must, as a rule, sell his whole interest to 

 one person and that person cannot be- 

 come a member of the firm without the 

 consent of the other partners. When one 

 partner dies, or becomes a bankrupt, the 

 firm is diss9lved and the business must 

 usually be wound up. 



A corporation chooses its own agents 

 and clothes them with only such limited 

 powers as it may see fit to confer. The 

 amount invested by the stockholder is all 

 that he has at risk. He can increase or 

 decrease this amount by small increments 

 mthout the consent of the corporation or 

 any of its officers. A corporation has a 

 term of existence fixed by law. Its life 

 is not dependent on the life of any indi- 



vidual, and it may be extended for any 

 number of successive terms if the stock- 

 holders so desire. These are the prin- 

 cipal considerations that usually make 

 the corporate form seem preferable. 



GROWER AND RETAILER. 



[Itead before tUe Canadian Horticultural Aiiso- 

 olatlon at Niagara Falls, Out., August 10 to 20, 

 by George M. Geraghty.] 



The difficulty between the growfer and 

 the retailer is a matter that has been 

 discussed on many occasions and,; so far 

 as I know, with little benefit to either 

 one or the other, as the grower goes 

 calmly on his way and does his business 

 as he thinks for his best interests^;— for 

 the time being — and the retailer con- 

 tinues to send us his usual growl, that 

 * ' the flowers are not this and the quality 

 is not that." It is a subject that, here 

 in Canada, so far as I know, can just 

 as well be left out of discussion, for, 

 without patting anyone on the back, I 

 find no difficulty whatever — that is, so 

 far as the large and influential growers 

 are concerned. They try to meet the 

 demands of the retailer as to quality 

 and manner of boxing their output, as 

 they know well that the retailer will buy 

 where he can get the best stock, which, 

 when received by him, is salable and at- 

 tractive. 



It is with the small grower, who makes 

 a specialty of one or two varieties, that 

 the retailer has any trouble, and it seems 

 impossible to convince such a grower 

 that he will get a far better price for 

 his stock if he will grade it in the proper 

 manner. Too often the thought of a 

 few cents more makes him put in two or 

 three flowers of an inferior grade, think- 

 ing that if it cannot at once be detected 

 he will be that much ahead. But how 

 frequently he deceives himself, he little 

 dreams, as the retailer soon ' ' gets onto ' ' 

 this scheme and will at the first chance 

 go elsewhere for his stock. 



This is the real difficulty that I have 

 found, as between the grower and the 

 retailer, and, as I before statetl, it is 

 confined almost entirely to small grow- 

 ers. If those gentlemen would carefully 

 sort out their stock and grade it as 

 should be done, I am sure that it would 

 be only a short time before there would 

 be a demand, and at a good market price, 

 for all their wares. When the retailer, 

 after purchasing several hundred — shall 

 we say roses? — graded as No. 1 stock, 

 finds on going through the box or boxes 

 that two or three in every row are No, 2 

 or even No. 3, this is where the grower 

 thinks he is getting a little extra profit, 

 but let me say that in this he is wrong, 

 as the retailer soon "gets onto" his 

 way of doing business and, unless cir- 

 cumstances compel, buys very little from 

 him. 



It is so all down the line. I have 

 in mind two cases in point — one 

 where the grower has to be care- 

 fully watched for inferior stock and short 

 count, where it is impossible to have a 

 box left. unless it is very carefully sorted 

 and counted; the other where I can de- 

 pend upon the best and freshest stock, 

 full count and one or two extra, and 

 where it is never necessary to open the 

 box before paying the bill. Needless to 

 say which grower will build up the best 

 trade and whose stock can be marked 

 "sold" before it is cut. 



In conclusion, let me again repeat that 

 so far as any real difficulty is concerned, 

 I have been unable to detect any and 

 have found the growers, as a body, only 

 too willing to meet the wishes of the re- 



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