March 1908. J 



227 



Miscellaneous. 



child can have. It seems to me the best 

 possible foundation for all kinds of edu- 

 cation. Out of this experience there 

 should come a true love of rural life in 

 all its large aspects— a love of growing 

 plants, of animals and of the land. 

 There should be a real love for the soil. 

 There are times when I go into the field 

 as the mellow furrows are being turned 

 by the plow when the whole land looks 

 good enough to eat. If one's experience 

 of country life has given him or her this 

 feeling with regard to the soil and to 

 all those things connected with it, that is 

 the best possible foundation for teaching 

 school gardening. This sort of an ex- 

 perience and enthusiasm should create 

 through the teacher a school garden 

 atmospnere which is invaluable in this 

 line of teaching. All of us know that 

 each particular school has its special 

 atmosphere. The high school has its 

 bookish atmosphere. The technical 

 school has its scientific atmosphere ; and 

 so the school garden should have a 

 garden atmosphere. This fundamental 

 condition for success should grow out 

 of the natural love and enthusiasm of 

 the soil which I have attempted to 

 sketch. When teachers undertake to 

 learn school gardening they should get 

 their instruction in a garden. Now, 

 there are all kinds of gardens, and all 

 are good ; but for this purpose I should 

 say that a well-kept garden is essential. 

 For the purpose of the present discussion 

 it is convenient to divide all gardens into 

 two classes, the amateur gardens and 

 the professional gardens. The point of 

 view in these two different schemes is 

 radically diverse. The amateur garden 

 is conducted for the fun of it, while the 

 professional gardener grows plants for 

 profit only. I should say that a better 

 atmosphere for the school garden teacher 

 is to be secured in the professionally 

 conducted garden. I would recommend 

 that the school garden teacher get his 

 or her knowledge of gardening from the 

 professional gardener. There are special 

 garden courses, or courses in general 

 horticulture now being established in 

 various schools ; and we may expect that 

 in the future these will give some oppor- 

 tunity for the training of school garden 

 teachers. Various academies are now 

 enlarging their work so as to include 

 agricultural and horticultural courses. 

 Yet for thorough work in school garden- 

 ing these secondary schools can hardly 

 furnish the proper grade of teachers. 

 In looking for such teachers it is some- 

 what natural to turn toward the larger 

 institutions which are better equipped 

 for this sort of work. Of course, I am 

 prejudiced in this matter— a prejudice 

 which I freely admit— but there seems 

 to me to be no fair question but that the 



best opportunity for teaching horticul- 

 ture in this neighbourhood is to be 

 found at the Massachusetts Agricul- 

 tural College. . We have at college many 

 acres of orchard, garden, and woodland, 

 as well as fields devoted to general farm 

 crop, and fields devoted to special ex- 

 periments, all managed as well as cir- 

 cumstances allow. All the various agri- 

 cultural activities of this country and 

 climate are rather fully exemplified. 

 And while that material up to the pre- 

 sent time has not been used for the edu- 

 cation of school garden teachers, it is 

 easily capable of being turned to such 

 account. There are some of our gra- 

 duates who now leave college to teach. 

 They must be to some extent prepared 

 for school garden work ; but teachers 

 who look forward to real teaching and 

 real school garden work need both 

 normal school training and agricultural 

 college training. It would seem there- 

 fore the natural and the best way to 

 arrange this matter through some form 

 of co-operation between the normal 

 schools and the State Agricultural Col- 

 lege. It seems both wise and convenient 

 that normal school graduates who wish 

 to take up school gardening should go to 

 the agricultural college for their instruc- 

 tion in horticulture ; and it seems equally 

 proper that students of the agricultural 

 college who intend to take up teaching 

 should go to the normal school to secure 

 their teaching methods. I see no diffi- 

 culty in arranging some plan of co-oper- 

 ation between these institutions. Al- 

 ready steps are being taken at the agri- 

 cultural college with the help of funds 

 to be provided by the State for beginning 

 some work of this kind. I understand 

 that some negotiations are already 

 underway looking toward such forms of 

 co-operation as I have suggested. We 

 may fairly expect therefore that in the 

 near future we shall have opportunities 

 of a large sort here in Massachusetts for 

 those teachers who wish to prepare 

 themselves well for school gardening. 

 This may look like a large contract ; for 

 the present we know that not all 

 teachers attend the normal schools even, 

 and it may be expecting too much to 

 ask them to attend the two colleges. 

 Nevertheless, if the present plans are 

 carried out, I am sure it will not be hard 

 for more ambitious ones at least to get a 

 great deal more training in the future 

 than has been available in the past. The 

 great problem in school gardening is to 

 get the teachers, and the teacher's great 

 problem is to get her knowledge of horti- 

 culture. We hope to do our share in 

 providing her with reasonable oppor- 

 tunities. — Transactions of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society for the year 

 190V. Part 11. 



