September, 1917 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
form the actual operation is a dif- 
ferent proposition. Not long since 
I knew of a young man in one of 
our state agricultural colleges who 
was so proficient in the science of 
poultry husbandry that he could 
answer quickly and accurately any 
vet this same young man when as- 
signed the task of operating an 
ordinary incubator, failed utterly. 
When given the care of a flock of 
baby chicks, made such ridiculous 
blunders that he became a laugh- 
ing stock. This young man’s dif- 
ficulty was not that his scientific 
training was of no value; quite 
the contrary. He simply had not 
5 learned to apply his theories to the 
actual operations required in run- 
ning a hatcher or caring for a 
brood of chicks. 
That agricultural training, suc- 
ceeds best therefore, which edu- 
cates not away from theoretical 
thinking but towards its correla- 
tion with scientific practice. It 
is remarkable that the mass of edu- 
cators have been so slow to recog- 
nize the weakness of our system. 
But it has been the recognition of 
I this weakness that has brought 
about within recent years a radical 
change of attitude relative to the 
method of teaching this mcst im- 
portant subject. 
Serious attempts are at present 
being made in our secondary 
schools and colleges of agriculture 
to adjust courses of study to meet 
the new demands. As a result 
practical projects have been intro- 
duced into our schools to supple- 
ment and il’uminate the principles 
taught in the classroom. So that 
for example, if a boy is taught the 
(fundamentals of strawberry cul- 
ture, he Anil also be required to 
prepare the soil, plant and care 
for an actual bed of strawberries. 
If the school in question is so for- 
tunate as to have access to a plo 
of land, the project j are carried on 
at the school gr unds, if not then 
the home grounds of the boys and 
girls are used and the experiment 
is called a home project. In any 
the work is done under the di- 
or some 
other competent person. 
Up to the present time there 
have been introduced into our edu- 
cational system two more or less 
distinct types of projects. First and 
primarily for the benefit of city 
children in the grades, the prac- 
tice of school gardening. Second, 
the above mentioned school or 
home project for the benefit of 
both city and country young peo- 
ple. It is here I contend that hor- 
ticulture offers some of its largesi 
educational opportunities. That 
it has alrea ’y blazed the way as a 
pioneer is shown by the fact that 
school garden ng which is dis- 
tinctively a horticultural field has 
for s^me years been employed as 
an important educational agency 
in our cities. 
To show what the possibTties 
of such a movement are we need 
only refer to those who have been 
most closely associated with the 
wo?k. The f u der of the ch ; ld- 
1 I 
1 en’s school farm in New York 
wrote in her first report that sin 
did not stait a garden simply to 
grow a few vegetables, although 
many a poor family doubtless 
profited in a material Avay, but to 
teach some of the most necessary 
civic virtues. Thus the children 
become interested in the care of 
public property, they acquire hab- 
its of economy, honesty, self-reli- 
ance, civic pride, and a wholesome 
respect for physical labor. It 
seems evident, therefore, that the 
benefits are not educational only 
but industrial and social as well. 
The seriousness with Avhich the 
movement is regarded is shown by 
the fact that gardening associa- 
tions. local school boards, state 
boards of education, agricultural 
colleges, and horticultural societies 
have encouraged and superintend- 
ed the work. 
In the second type of project, 
horticulture is destined to play an 
equally important part in the at- 
tempt to effect a working combin- 
ation between theoretical school 
room information and its applica- 
tion to live problems. 
In the first place, I am con- 
vinced on account of the broad 
scope of horticultural activities 
cas 
questions relative to this subject ; rection of the teacher 
