Miscellaneous. 



366 



[April 1908- 



SCHOOL GARDENS. 



By 0. Driebbrg. 



A report on School Gardens in the 

 United States by B. T. Galloway, Chief 

 of the Bureau of Plant Industry, indi- 

 cates the importance attached to this 

 branch of education in America and the 

 progress that has been made in this 

 connection. 



Agriculture in its broadest sense is the 

 primary basis of the wealth of a country, 

 and hence the necessity for efforts being 

 made to bring early to the mind of the 

 child, facts which will be of value in 

 emphasizing the importance of agricul- 

 tural work ; and there is no better way 

 of doing this than through a well man- 

 aged system of School Garden training. 

 This work is also valuable in broadening 

 lines of thought, enlarging the scope of 

 the child's observation, and improving 

 its physique. 



The importance of training children 

 through the medium of School Gardens 

 is recognised all over the Continent and 

 in England. The movement has within 

 the past few years spread also to Ceylon, 

 and is just being taken up in India, in 

 the State of Mysore. 



Through its Bureau of Nature Study, 

 Cornell University has come into touch 

 with thousands of children in New 

 York State, who have been urged 

 to have gardens of their own and 

 to further the improvement of school 

 grounds. Nature Bulletins are issued 

 to them, giving clear directions, in- 

 terestingly written, in regard to seed 

 and bulb planting, as well as planning 

 and caring for gardens. Through its 

 efforts moie than 500 School Gardeus in 

 the State were improved by children in 

 1901. Primarily, the desire of the Uni- 

 versity is to aid the children of country 

 schools, but its influence is strongly felt 

 in the City Schools also. 



The School Garden is, however, by no 

 means confined to New York State, for 

 we find that Connecticut, Massachusetts, 

 Misouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virgi- 

 nia are also participating in the new 

 educational scheme. 



In Ceylon we have already some 150 

 school gardens, many of which are quite 

 models in their way. At first the 

 working of the school garden scheme fell 

 to the Department of Public Instruction, 

 but subsequently it was transferred to 

 the Department of Botanic Gardens, 

 under which it would appear to more 

 appropriately fall. 



What one would wish to see is the 

 inclusion of school gardening among the 



subjects for the Government Grant, so 

 that the same attention may be given to 

 this most important phase of education 

 as to other less practical subjects of the 

 Code. 



It is satisfactory to find that a local 

 movement has been set on foot to pro- 

 mote Nature Study among the children 

 of the capital town, and that "rambles " 

 with the object of encouraging habits 

 of observation in the young, are about to 

 be organised. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



By C. Driebbrg. 



E. H Rozelle is botanically known as 



Hibiscus Sabdariffn. The parts used as 

 food are the fleshy calyces which persist 

 on the fruit. These are largely used in 

 Queensland for jam making, and have 

 also been found to make an excellent jelly 

 and sauce (in place of cranberry). The 

 calyces can be dried in the sun for future 

 use. It is suggested that the juice got 

 from them might with advantage super- 

 sede the coal-tar dye used for colouring 

 food a bright red. Another use of the 

 plant is for fibre. For this purpose the 

 crop should be cut while still in 

 flower, dried, made into bundles and 

 soaked in watei for 15 or 20 days. The 

 strong silk fibre (Rozella hemp), which is 

 considered equal to jute, is useful for 

 cordage and coarse textile products. 

 The leaves are sometimes used as a salad, 

 and the seeds fed to cattle and poultry. 



P. N.— The word lime is very loosely 

 used, being applied indiscriminately to 

 the oxide, hydrate and carbonate of 

 calcium. It is most correctly applied to 

 the oxide, and thus we get hydrate of 

 lime and carbonate of lime. Slaked lime is 

 another name for the hydrate. It is the 

 carbonate that we find in shells, coral 

 and limestone. Magnesian limestone is 

 a compound of calcium carbonate and 

 magnesium carbonate. Crystalline lime- 

 stone is burnt for lime in the Kandyan 

 districts. Along the South coast coral is 

 used. 



H. P. -The planting up of fuel trees 

 might, as you say, pay with the present 

 high price of firewood in large towns. 

 But, on the other hand, with coal at 

 Re. 1 per cwt. (in Colombo) householders 

 can always fall back on it. though native 

 cooks have a strong objection to the 

 imported fuel. 



V. P. — The plant you refer to is the 

 Water Hyacinth (Pontederia), plants of 

 which are ^hawked about in Colombo 



