September, 1910.] 



247 



Agricultural Education. 



less exalted source. It may bo simply 

 due to neglect and undeveloped powers 

 of the mind. Among the characteristics 

 of infancy and childhood enumerated in 

 your Syllabus are ' impressibility, imi- 

 tativeness, and memory.' The mind of 

 the child attending an Elementary 

 school could not fail to be impressed 

 with the appearance of a good school 

 garden. He would wish to have a small 

 garden of his own at home, and the habit 

 of looking at and attending to a garden 

 might stick to him all through his life. 

 One of the most incongruous things 

 about the residences of many wealthy 

 Indians, at all events of this Presidency, 

 is the contrast between the scrupulous 

 care and attention paid to their per- 

 sonal cleanliness and personal appear- 

 ance, and the squalor of the land 

 surrounding their houses, which might 

 be a garden, but which it would be 

 flattery to describe as anything better 

 than a piece of waste land enclosed by 

 a wall. It would be no small gain it* the 

 habits of neatness, order, and a taste 

 for beautiful surroundings could be in- 

 culcated in the mind of the child when 

 he goes to school. 



" A taste for a garden is not a mere 

 hobby, to be put on a plane with photo- 

 graphy, or any game or amusement. 

 Looked at from the most practical point 

 of view, it would add greatly to the 

 pleasure of lite if those who had the 

 time and money to do so, would beautify 

 their surroundings, and bring pressure 

 to bear on those entrusted with the case 

 of public places to make them less un- 

 sightly than they are at present. How 

 many Jubilee Parks and Queen Victoria 

 Memorial Gardens in this country would 

 then be placed where the public could 

 recreate themselves in their spare mo- 

 ments with the sight of well-kept and 

 beautiful gardens, At present in too 

 many cases these places are ueglected 

 wastes, if nothing worse. Prom the 

 public point of view then, there isa good 

 deal to be said in favour of any attempt 

 to arouse more interest in gardening. 

 Prom the point of view of the indivi- 

 dual, gardening provides a pleasant re- 

 creation, and gives an interesting and 

 harmless occupation to those who have 

 nothing to do with their spare time. 

 Everyone who has any knowledge of 

 village life in this country knows that 

 the want of occupation during the sea- 

 son when there is no field work going 

 on is the main cause for half of the petty 

 iDtrigues and criminal and civil disputes 

 which flourish in the off season. I 

 suggest that a taste of gardening incul- 

 cated in the children of the village 

 might lead to a diminution ot these mis- 

 chievous quarrels, which are the bane of 



Indian life. There is such a thing as a 

 too exclusive attention to the affairs of 

 one's neighbours. It is true that the 

 proper study of mankind is man, but 

 there are other objects which repay 

 attention. Without going so far as the 

 famous Head of a Cambridge College 

 who is reported to have said, after 

 attending a long and acrimonious Col- 

 lege meeting,' the more I see of men, 

 the more I like dogs,' there can be no 

 doubt that one strong argument for 

 gardening is that it constitutes an occu- 

 pation free from the envy, hatred and 

 uncharitableness which are too com- 

 monly the fruit of seeing too much of 

 our fellow-creatures. 



"Passing on to the second division of 

 our subject, the discussion of the ques- 

 tion of what school gardens ought to be, 

 and what they ought to aim at doing, 

 we are met at once with a good deal of 

 diversity of views. There are some who 

 will say that merely growing orna- 

 mental plants or flowers is no use, be- 

 cause most of the boys at the village 

 schools in this country will have to 

 spend their lives in following the plough, 

 and farmers are notoriously indifferent 

 to gardening, and have little time for it. 



"Again, if it is suggested that the 

 staple crop of the village should be culti- 

 vated in a superior fashion in the school 

 garden, the objection is put forward 

 that this will teach the boys nothing 

 because the high manuring and culti- 

 vation possible on a small scale cannot 

 be followed in a field. If, to meet this 

 objection, you suggest that a fair-sized 

 field should be hired or borrowed and 

 the local crops grown under ordinary 

 field conditions, it is said that the school- 

 master will be less successful in his culti- 

 vation than the local ryots, because he is 

 devoid of their experience, and that the 

 failure which he is certain to meet with 

 will bring on him the ridicule of the 

 village. 



"Before discussing these alternatives, 

 there are one or two points which might 

 be laid down. The first is that the 

 schoolmaster should be very cautious 

 about recommending any practical 

 change in ordinary cultivation to the 

 ryot. Apart altogether from the art of 

 growing; of plants or animals, farming is 

 a money-making profession, and without 

 long practical experience it is not pos- 

 sible tor any amateur, whatever his 

 knowledge of science, or even of 

 practical gardening may be, to say 

 what will pay on field scale. Yet, in- 

 asmuch as in many villages the school- 

 master is the only educated person, the 

 Agricultural Department cannot afford 

 to take any steps to use him for the 



