332 SCHOOL AND HOME GARDENING 



strifes and wars between countries. The subject should mean 

 more than that to young people of modern times. Schools 

 prefer to use histories which deal with industries, occupations, 

 inventions, discoveries and the development of things which 

 have had lasting influences upon the advancement of people. 

 It is as important that a child of this century should know 

 of the history of the corn and its development as an American 

 crop and its influence, as to be able to name the battles of the 

 Eevolution in. the order of their occurrence. It is good his- 

 tory to study the crops which America has added to the staples 

 of the world. Interesting stories regarding the development 

 of several of these crops are found in bulletins, which schools 

 may have for the mere asking. Children in our schools wiU 

 make better men and women if they learn more about the 

 things which are to be closely associated with their lives. 

 Much of what was formerly found in histories is now being 

 omitted as less vital. 



Drawing. — In the best schools much attention is given 

 to expression by means of drawing. This is in perfect accord 

 with modern methods of expression exemplified in books and 

 periodicals. No more satisfactory material can be found for 

 practice in drawing than plants growing in window boxes 

 or in the garden. It is doubtless better to let the child draw 

 from nature than to copy from the work of others. This 

 teaches the proper interpretation of pictures. Appreciation 

 of great works of art comes naturally instead of artificially. 

 Rules of drawing are never so valuable to the child as the 

 drawing itself from natural objects. Teachers in many schools 

 have made the school garden work the basis of the drawing 

 work. Indeed the lovers of drawing have often become the 

 greatest lovers of plants. 



New Classes Not Necessary. — Prof. M. A. Leiper, of 

 the Western Kentucky State Normal School, in a paper pub- 

 lished by the United States Bureau of Education, says : " The 

 new instruction does not demand new classes ; it is to be given, 



