October 16, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



557 



The pupil or student should be enabled to 

 nearly or quite make bis way through high 

 school, academy and college, and go forth 

 qualified to face adversity and maintain a 

 healthful independence. One step toward 

 the accomplishment of this desired end 

 would be the introduction into our country 

 schools of manual training in horticulture. 

 The land required could be easily secured, 

 and the necessary equipment in the way of 

 tools, seeds, etc., would not be expensive. 



The work undertaken in these training 

 schools should embrace the cultivation of 

 fruits, vegetables, flowers, shrubs and trees. 

 In connection with the above the various 

 operations of propagating plants by seeds, 

 cuttings, budding, grafting, etc., should be 

 thoroughly taught. The collection and 

 planting of weeds, the breeding of the more 

 common injurious insects and the use of 

 remedies, the study of bees and useful birds, 

 a practical acquaintance with our native 

 trees and shrubs, and other similar subjects, 

 might form a part of the instruction and 

 training. 



The introduction of such a course would 

 mean an improvement of our schoolhouse 

 grounds, and the adornment of these would 

 have an elevating effect upon the whole 

 community. 



If we have beautiful school buildings, 

 with beautiful surroundings, the inference 

 is almost irresistible that we shall have 

 teachers and pupils of greater refinement. 

 To develop all the faculties of body and 

 mind is the aim of modern education . Man- 

 ual training in horticulture can signally aid 

 in securing this end. 



I sincerely hope that the obvious advan- 

 tages of forming horticultural colonies will 

 be widely and rapidly improved. It would 

 correct the unhealthy congestion of our 

 towns and cities. In no other way can so 

 many be provided with homes, regular em- 

 ployment and good living. By a horticul- 

 tural colony I mean the association of from 



one hundred to five hundred families, in the 

 purchase of a suitably located tract of land, 

 embracing about one acre for each indivi- 

 dual. The location, which should be rea- 

 sonably near some large commercial center, 

 and the purchase of this land should be in- 

 trusted to the most capable and honest 

 members of the association. It should be 

 carefully surveyed and divided into a few 

 small lots, centrally located, for the neces- 

 sary mechanics and merchants, but mainly 

 into areas of from one to ten acres for hor- 

 ticulture. Ample reservations of the best 

 sites should be made for a schoolhouse, 

 town hall and public park. The streets 

 should be embowered with shade trees, and 

 every owner of a lot or garden should be 

 encouraged to beautify and adorn it. 



I believe such a cooperative effort would 

 secure a modest but comfortable home for 

 any family that could contribute from $300 

 to $500. If the contribution ranged from 

 $500 to $1,000 a proportionally better 

 home could be secured. Some of the ad- 

 vantages of such colonization over the 

 isolated system of taking up a homestead 

 may be summarized as follows : 



First. One tenth of the land required 

 under the old system would be found abun- 

 dant. 



Second. It could be far better selected 

 with reference to markets, and more suit- 

 able allotments for fruits, garden vegetables, 

 floriculture, nursery, etc., could be made. 



Tliird. Few draught animals and little 

 expensive machinery would be required. 



And, finally, man's social and gregarious 

 instincts would be satisfied. 



While ignorance and miseducation ruin 

 thousands, I believe that poverty resulting 

 from involuntary idleness sends more men 

 and women to perdition than any other 

 cause. 



Horticulture may never become a uni- 

 versal panacea for destitution and crime, 

 yet I have a joyful trust that thousands will 



