Nov. 1, 1902.1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 313 
SCHOOL GARDENS IN CEYLON. 
The proposal to establish Schoal Gardens 
in this Colony, and to make them a feature 
of future educational life, is worthy of 
encouragement. Beinfr somewhat out of 
the beaten track of everyday instruction 
— which in most minds is associated witli 
books, black-hoards and slates— the idea 
of each school being possessed of a 
special province of its own where nature 
herself is to be the instructress, and where 
tender minds are to be gently led to 
exercise their powers i and learn her 
secrets direct, may be considered by some 
to be a "fad"; but it has, at least, 
about it a graciousness wliicli is winsome. 
The School Garden, although a new im- 
portation to Ceylon, has already a history 
and literature of its own. It is an estab- 
lished fact in many lands ; a prized insti- 
tution on the Continent and in America; 
and those who know most of it, and have 
carefully noted its working and effects, are 
among the advanced number who highly 
prize it as an educator, and would recom- 
mend its adoption everywhere, Tlie idea, 
therefore, comes to us not untried, but as 
one which has been tested by many peoples : 
has establislied its footing not by ousting 
the well-known and venerated methods, or 
hustling itself into their place; but by a steady 
quiet growth which has won for it, ap- 
proval and acceptance. It has been found 
to be radiant with much promise. 
In the educational number of last month's 
New York Outlook there is an article on 
" School Gardens, their Development and 
Functions," which deals with the subject 
in an interesting way. Eighty years ago, 
the School Garden was first established in 
Austria and Sweden ; got official encourage- 
ment, and in both these countries it still 
flourishes. The Austrian Imperial School 
Law has this for its ideal in the matter : 
— " Where practicable a garden and place 
for agricultural experiments shall be estab- 
lished at every rural school." In 1898 there 
were over 18;000 School Gardens doing their 
work ; while in some of the provinces in 
Austria there was not a school witliout a 
garden. In Belgium each school must have 
a garden of 39^ square rods. The Federal 
Government of Switzerland has begun to 
subsidise School Gardens, and to offer 
prizes for plans and essays on the subject. 
France has 28,000 primai-y Schools with 
Giirdens attached. Germany has taken no 
official action ; but in the different States 
the system is recognised and adopted. 
■Russia numbers 8,000 School Gardens, and 
hatcheries of bees and silk»worms have 
been added. Neither Great Britain, America, 
nor the Netherlands liave as yet done 
much ; but America is moving, and, as the 
idea has " caught on," rapid advancement 
may be looked for and by the end of the 
present decade the United States School 
without a Garden will be the exception, 
la Scotland 45 years ago there was, at 
least, one famed educational establishment 
—The Dollar Institution— where School Gar- 
dens played their part and the Institivtiou 
40 
had then the unique place in Scotland of 
being recognised V)y the Gcvernnient as a 
training centre for Indian Civil Service 
Candidates. Only in London and Dul)lin 
at that time could this needed instruction 
be elsewhere secured. Today the gardens 
are no more, and the prestige of the Dollar 
Institution is not now what it was. 
Now, what is it that is claimed for the 
SL'hool Garden ? It is held th;it it keeps 
the children more in the o])en air ; that it 
substitutes, where possible, nature study for 
book-learning; that, while it does not pro- 
tend to teach the business oE farming or 
horticulture, it tries to inspire a love for 
country life by ;i study of its phenomena. 
It trains to habits of accurate observation 
and elevates the mind in many ways. Th« 
radius of its influence is wider than the school. 
A wise principle is laid down not to attempt 
too much at once, and, while some of the 
American Schools have a plot for each 
scholar, others begin with but a single 
bank of wild flowers and ferns, the join 
property of the scholars. IE School 
Gardens in Ceylon will but create 
a love of country life, what a gain thafe 
would be. Our educated youths are inclined 
to look down on rural work as beneith the 
dignity oE their enligheneted souls— law medi- 
cine, and Government service being the 
opsnings they crave for— with the result that, 
while at the top of the profession there is 
always plenty of room, the rank and file 
are so jostled and hustled that life becomes 
in many cases a joyless grind, and sordid- 
ness at length quenches all its natural 
brightness. The prosperity of our Colony 
is based on successful Agriculture ; 
and to have the educated rising genera- 
tion taking ,an intelligent interest in 
it, and adopting it as a career for 
life's most strenuous efforts would be a very 
great gain for the island. When the Gov- 
ernment takes to the distribution of new 
economic plants— as from time to time it has 
done in the past— the success of the experi- 
ment would be assured, if the new importa- 
tions were reared and tended by people who 
knew something of plant life and whom 
early training had bent their minds in that 
direction, rather than if they fell into 
the hands of the ignorant and untrained. 
The Russian addition of Bee-keeping might 
well be adopted, when feasible, as an adjunct 
to the School Garden : becoming a source of 
revenue as well a? a i object lesson. Doubt- 
less there would at first be some difficulties, 
and experience might have to be bought at 
a stinging cost ; for our Ceylon bees have not 
yet, we believe, been domesticated — unless 
by Mr. Frank Benton, Apiarian, America, 
from the specimens he collected and 
took away over 20 years ago, — nor does it "im- 
prove the shining hour" for man's benefit. 
Still there is much first hand information on 
apiaries easily accessible, and Bee-cultivation 
has been reduced to an almost exact science, 
so that an intelligent teacher, who elected^ to 
supplement his School Garden with a bee-hive, 
would soon find his way about, .and have in 
his School compiunrl a theme intensely in- 
teresting to young people, redolent of life 
well as teeming with valuable inscructioq. 
