Feb. 1908.J 



153 



Miscellaneous. 



more wholesome, more enjoyable, and 

 possibly more profitable life. It is a 

 clearly recognized fact that all our edu- 

 cation in the past decade has been to- 

 ward the city and toward urban condi- 

 tions. This tendency has developed so 

 many evils both in overcrowding the 

 city conditions and in depopulating the 

 country towns and villages, that it seems 

 to me any movement which may serve 

 as a check to the unwise migration to 

 city and commercial and manufacturing 

 centres may be worthy of encourage- 

 ment. The whole subject of better rural 

 conditions and more wise use of the un- 

 cultivated areas of New England would 

 mean a happier and more profitable life 

 for many of the young men and women 

 who drift into the humdrum, unsatis- 

 fying, and sometimes destructive condi- 

 tions which they attempt to cope with 

 in the crowded centres. It seems to me 

 that these conditions may be checked at 

 least, if there can be developed a more 

 wholesome respect for rural life and 

 more intelligent application of the 

 efforts of young men and women to the 

 cultivation of the soil and the establish- 

 ment of attractive homes. After these 

 most excellent papers which have just 

 been listened to by you with so much 

 interest, from the attention which has 

 been given to this subject in the last few 

 years, and after many successful experi- 

 ments on a small scale, 1 think there is at 

 this time, not much need for argument 

 in a gathering of this sort, in favour of 

 children's gardens or in favour of atten- 

 tion to horticultural and agricultural 

 betterment. When you stop to think 

 how much of life depends upon the pro- 

 ducts of the soil, how much of life is 

 effected by environment, we can easily 

 see that the time is not far off when 

 there is to be a reaction, we trust, which 

 will mean that more people, when pro- 

 perly informed and guided, will prefer 

 the safe and wholesome and comfortable 

 conditions of the New England village 

 and homestead, rather than the un- 

 healthy and soulless employment found 

 in mill or factory ; and it is for the sake 

 of creating this better attitude and more 

 intelligent understanding of the opportu- 

 nities and enjoyments of rural or village 

 life, that the study of gardening and 

 horticulture in our schools should be 

 introduced. I think we may fairly pre- 

 sume that this is an assumption which 

 will not be questioned. This topic, how- 

 ever, calls for discussion of the school 

 garden and the public. The public of 

 course may mean almost anything. We 

 might as well admit and recognize at 

 the very start that the public or public 

 opinion is a factor which has to be 

 seriously considered. The schools are 

 public schools. In a way, they have to 



be what the public demands, and what 

 the public is willing to support. Hence 

 it seems to me that the immediate pro- 

 blem for children's garden workers and 

 for those that have horticultural and 

 rural improvement schemes to advance, 

 is to create an intelligent and proper 

 attitude on the part of the public toward 

 these movements. During the year we 

 have been frequently asked how to make 

 school gardens work successful, and the 

 answer to such a question would have 

 to be so varied for different communities 

 and for different individuals that of 

 course we have been unable to give any 

 satisfactory answer, and as I understood 

 this to be a very informal meeting, I 

 will take the privilege of offering a bit 

 of testimony as to the introduction and 

 progress of this movement in the town 

 which I represent. Some four years ago, 

 the superintendent caught a bit of inspi- 

 ration from one of the original American 

 school garden enthusiasts, the former 

 chairman of this comaittee, and, after 

 mulling the matter over, broached the 

 matter to members of the school board. 

 They at least could see no harm in the 

 proposition, and in a way were led to 

 become somewhat interested iu it, pos- 

 sibly with a little feeling of scepticism 

 and doubt, but yet with some confidence 

 that it might be worth while, and speci- 

 ally because we were not to ask for any 

 money out of the public treasury. We 

 proceeded on faith, getting some of the 

 boys and girls interested, getting a 

 friend to plow, getting the President of 

 the Improvement Association and other 

 officers sufficiently interested to lend a 

 hand with spade and fork in converting 

 a rough corner lot near the school build- 

 ing into a well-graded plot, and by quiet 

 agitation developing enough momentum 

 of opinion, to at least make some de- 

 fenders of the movement when the first 

 bit of ridicule and public doubt arose. 

 For a time there was discussion on this 

 side and on that, some were ready to cry 

 fad, fad, and foolishness ; others were 

 ready to admit the excellence of the idea, 

 while expressing feelings that it was 

 impractical ; others expressing interest 

 and enthusiasm. I think probably this 

 would be the normal condition when 

 such movement was introduced anew. 

 Next the children were inoculated with 

 interest and ambition and hope, and 

 this became contagious, and much work 

 and much profit from this under- 

 standing was accomplished by the 

 children. Someone had to bear the 

 brunt of the planting, someone had 

 to see that conditions were such, 

 that success was certain, and when 

 everything was plotted and planted, all 

 sorts of hopes and fears were entertain- 

 ed as to what the results might be. To 



