934 



SCIENCE. 



[N.S. Vol. XVII. No. 441. 



as well as the educational, value of such a 

 system is urged: 



School Gardens: Miss Louise Klein Mil- 

 ler, director of the Lowthrope School of 

 Horticulture and Landscape Gardening 

 for Women. 



Educators are becoming alive to the im- 

 portance of school gardens as a potent fac- 

 tor in education, and the next five years 

 will see rapid progress in this direction. 



The schools of Europe are far in advance 

 of us in this phase of education, and the 

 agricultural and horticultural progress is 

 largely due to the efficiency of the school 

 gardens. In Austria-Hungary alone there 

 are 18,000 school gardens. In France, the 

 teachers are required by laAV to be able 

 to instruct their pupils in the elements of 

 agriculture and horticulture, and normal 

 schools have been established for the pur- 

 pose of giving teachers such training. No 

 plans for school buildings to which the 

 state contributes are approved unless ac- 

 companied by plans for a school garden. 

 The study of horticulture is compulsory in 

 Belgium. In Germany and England, 

 school gardens are encouraged, but not 

 regulated by law. Some excellent work 

 has been done in this country, but in many 

 instances the educative features have been 

 made subservient to the raising of vege- 

 tables. 



The theory and practice of gardening 

 satisfies certain dominant interests in a 

 child's physical, mental and moral evolu- 

 tion; affords an opportunity to expend 

 normally and naturally often misdirected 

 energy; develops an appreciation of the 

 proper values of things ; quickens a knowl- 

 edge of the close interrelations in nature; 

 gives fundamental principles of great eco- 

 nomic significance; suggests some of the 

 great problems in the struggle for exist- 

 ence ; teaches the dignity of labor and per- 

 sonal responsibility. 



The day is not far distant when a super- 

 visor of school gardens will be as important 

 an officer in a school system as a super- 

 visor of music or drawing. Children are 

 not satisfied with evasive answers. They 

 are alert, inquisitive and intelligent, and 

 a teacher who wishes to gain their con- 

 fidence and keep their respect must be able 

 to respond to most of the demands made 

 upon her, and have her knowledge at her 

 tongue's end and finger tips. This is an 

 open field for women, and in this capacity 

 an earnest, capable and enthusiastic teacher 

 can render valuable service to the public 

 good. 



A difficult problem for the economist and 

 sociologist to solve is the herding together 

 of a large population in a crowded city. 

 Strenuous efforts are being made to turn 

 the tide country ward, and induce persons 

 to seek homes where life will be freer and 

 more wholesome. If the elements of agri- 

 culture and horticulture were taught in 

 country, town and, so far as possible, in 

 city schools, in an intelligent, scientific and 

 attractive manner, life in the country would 

 be the joy that the opportunity affords. 

 Peank H. Hitchcock, 



Secretary. 



THE UPPER TEMPERATURE LIMITS OF 

 LIFE.* 

 The upper temperature limits of con- 

 tinued and active life are possible of ob- 

 servation most satisfactorily in the case of 

 the organisms inhabiting hot springs. 

 Such springs are widely distributed in both 

 hemispheres and vary in temperature from 

 tepid to boiling. In all these springs, ex- 

 cept in the very hottest waters and in 

 those in which there is something in the 

 chemical composition which prevents, or- 

 ganisms have been found. Various indi- 



* Abstract of an address before the California 

 Chapter of the Sigma Xi, Berkeley, April 28, 

 1903. 



