August, 1911.] 



153 



Education. 



and therefore are of less interest. In the 

 last article it is said that the law is to 

 come into force at the same time as that 

 on the limited liability societies. 



(Summarised from the Bulletin of the 

 Bureau of Economic and Social Intelli- 

 gence of the I. I. of A. Year II, No. 

 5, 31st May, 1191, 



EDUCATION. 



OBJECTS OP SCHOOL GARDENING. 



(Prom the School and Home Gardening 

 Bulletin, No. 31, 1910, Bureau 

 of Education.) 

 The objects of teaching gardening in 

 the schools are manifold. It is hoped 

 through the agency of the school garden 

 to introduce among the people the 

 practice of home gardening. Gardening 

 is a healthful pursuit ; it makes stronger 

 and better men and women, and will 

 prove a permanent source of pleasure 

 and profit to them ; it develops in the 

 pupils a sense of order and neatness, 

 besides teaching appreciation of nature, 

 regard for the property of others, self- 

 reliance, respect for labour ; it promotes 

 habits of industry ; it furnishes useful 

 employment as well as amusement to 

 children who would otherwise seek un- 

 profitable diversion ; it is a means to 

 the pupil of acquiring manual skill and 

 gaining some knowledge of soils, plants 

 and insects. 



Teachers should be required to inspect 

 home gardens and report on them. This 

 must be recognized as a part of the 

 regular school work. Pupils should be 

 required to plant and cultivate in a 

 prescribed manner. Plants may be 

 taken by children to their homes for 

 resetting. Experience has shown that 

 if pupils are given two or three choice 

 varieties of plants they will themselves 

 find enough others to make in all a very 

 good assortment for the home garden. 

 A school garden standing alone in a 

 community, an isolated example of agri- 

 cultural work, is only a beginning of 

 what can be done. School gardening 

 will stimulate and create an interest in 

 the study of higher agriculture, thus 

 paving a way for the solution of the 

 many agricultural problems that con- 

 front us. 



Divisions of the Work. 



In every school in the Philippines some 

 instruction should be given in plant 

 culture, and in every school wheie the 

 location will permit there should be a 

 well-planned school garden. 



The character of the work undertaken 

 must be in some measure dependent 

 upon the character of the soil and the 

 20 



extent of the site. It may embrace the 

 following branches : — 



1. The School Garden. 

 Here two different lines of work may 

 be taken up : First, the making of such 

 gardens as may be introduced in every 

 home; second, the teaching of proper 

 methods of producing staple field pro- 

 ducts of the locality through seed selec- 

 tion and intensive cultivation. 



2. The Home Garden. 



Much has already been done in 

 introducing the cultivation of garden 

 vegetables among the people. It is 

 noticeable that markets now abound 

 with vegetables in places where a few 

 years ago they were not obtainable — a 

 result that may be attributed to the 

 emphasis placed upon gardening in the 

 schools. Among the plants which 

 succeed best in the Philippines are 

 eggplant, okra, beans, lettuce, pechay, 

 cabbage, pepper, radish, tomatoes, 

 carrots, beets, ginger, peanuts, garlic, 

 sincamas, ampalaya, native corn, 

 camotes, gabi, and other hardy native 

 vegetables that are grown in the locality 

 of each school garden. 



Frequently, w here ground is limited 

 at school, seed can be germinated in 

 boxes and germinating beds ; and young 

 seedlings can be given to the children, 

 who shoidd be required to take them 

 home, to plant them and to care for 

 them, and to make, at certain intervals, 

 reports upon the development of the 

 plant. 



Certain vegetable products are un- 

 familiar to Filipino households, and 

 have not been so highly prized by them 

 as they should be because the method 

 of cooking the vegetable has not been 

 understood. Where it is possible there 

 should be co-operation between the 

 classes in garedniug and the classes in 

 cooking. The bad physical results of an 

 exclusive diet of rice and fish are not 

 noticeable, and one object sought in the 

 establishment of school gardening is an 

 enrichment of food diet. 



3. Plant Nurseries. 

 Where it is possible to have extended 



school gardens, useful plant nurseries 

 should be established in which can be 



