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early missionaries on the Island of Hawaii. They spent 
much of their time in teaching the natives methods of pro- 
ducing garden vegetables and field crops. The natives 
rapidly absorbed the new ideas, and the demand for instruc- 
tion became so great, that in 1830 an urgent petition was sent 
to the American Board of Missions, asking for a number of 
instructors to train the Hawaiian people in agricultural pur- 
suits. The petition received the hearty support of the na- 
tive population, and was signed by fifteen of the high chiefs. 
In response instructors were sent, and very soon there were 
many prosperous fields of wheat, sugar cane, vegetables, etc. 
As schools gradually developed, it was natural that the 
agricultural phase of education should continue in import- 
ance. Those in charge of the school affairs of the Islands 
saw that these people needed training through concrete 
things, object-lesson teaching, industrial and economic. Thus, 
in the past ten years, nearly every school in the Territory, 
either public or private, has given some attention to me- 
chanical and agricultural work, largely in the form of school 
gardens. Excellent gardens have been established at the 
Lahainaluna Industrial School, the Hilo Boarding School 
for Boys, the Kamehameha Schools, the Waialee Industrial 
School, and the Normal and Training School. 
CI-IARxVCTERISTICS. 
There are a number of local factors that make the school 
gardens of Hawaii decidedly different from those of the 
mainland. In the first place, the garden year corresponds 
closely with the school year. There are two main seasons : 
the wet season and the dry season. The wet season, corre- 
sponding roughly to the mainland winter, is the growing 
season ; the summer is the dry season, during which garden- 
ing slackens. The school year — September to June — thus 
fortunately keeps pace with the development of the garden. 
The children can plant their seeds during the first weeks of 
school, and be confident of shortly reaping the results of 
their labors. This is in striking contrast with the gardens of 
the East, where extensive planting cannot well begin until 
late springtime, and only rapidly maturing crops can be 
raised before the close of school. 
Secondly, the school gardeners here are not only fortunate 
in the coincidence of the school year and the growing season, 
but the climate as a whole is ideal for garden work. Uni- 
formity is the keynote of this sub-tropical climate. There are 
no frosts, no violent thunder storms, no hurricanes nor cy- 
clones. Frequent light local showers are characteristic. At 
Honolulu the average annual temiperature is seventy-four 
degrees, which varies only a few degrees from day to day. 
