6 SCHOOL AND HOME GARDENING 



The school garden system, in Canada " aims at helping 

 the rural population to understand better what education is 

 and what it aims at for them and their children." The gar- 

 den work is " designed to encourage the cultivation of the soil 

 as an ideal life work," but incidentally gives to the child a 

 "symmetrical education," as it gives suitable "scientific 

 information and the habit of careful observation." 



In France the object is not to teach farming but to develop 

 in children the natural interest in flowers, birds and growing 



Fig. 1. — Produce from one child's plot in one season. Fairview school, Yonkers, 

 N. Y. (School Garden Association of America.) 



things, and inspire a love for the country. But the instructors 

 give a knowledge of the soil, means of improving it, methods of 

 cultivation, and the management of a garden. 



" The main object of the study (in Switzerland) is to train 

 to better mental grasp by developing the power of obser- 

 vation, the skilful use of the finer muscles of the hands. The 

 useful information is incidental, though it appears otherwise 

 to the child and often to the parent." ^ 



In many schools in America the products of the garden 

 are of no insignificant consideration, particularly in the minds 

 of the children. The crops are often used for canning by 



"M. Louise Greene, "Among School Gardens," page 13. 



