Appendix 367 
must have had a thorough and special training, and he must have the 
power of arousing enthusiasm in his pupils, so that they will feel a pleasure 
in doing any kind of work in the garden, even in hand weeding, when 
necessary. 
When children understand that the weeds take up the food which 
would otherwise go to the plants, and that they keep out the light and 
prevent the food from being manufactured in the leaves by the aid of sun- 
light, then it is that they find a delight in pulling up the robbing weeds. 
The teacher of the gardening class can drive home many beautiful 
lessons. He can, and should on all occasions, point out the dignity of 
honest labour. This he can do not in any direct way, which may defeat 
the object he has in view, but by emphasizing the lessons which will bear 
directly on labour. For instance, a child who seems to be afraid to dirty 
his or her fingers should have special attention for a time. The teacher 
should work with the child, doing, without hesitation, any part of the work 
himself, thus enabling the child to see, by example, that there is a certain 
amount of dignity even in the most menial operations in the garden. 
The teacher of gardening can also open up the children’s minds in a 
way which no other teacher has the opportunity of doing. He has the 
material to work with, and the children work with it also. Then, if the 
lessons are carefully thought out and properly taught to the children, they 
may have the very highest importance in their after life. For instance, he 
can show by actual living things, and things which they handle, how beauti- 
fully everything is arranged in Nature. How the rocks were first formed, 
afterwards decaying, forming soil on which it was possible for plants to live; 
these simple plants in decaying making it possible for other and higher 
plants to live. The higher plants then made it possible for animals to exist 
on the earth by producing plenty of food for them. Both plants and 
animals prepared the way for man to inhabit the world. Man, having 
dominion over all things in the world, and being endowed with reason, 
was able to subdue the animals and to take the plants and improve them 
as he desired. For instance, he changed the crab apple of our hedgerows 
to the beautiful apples of our gardens, the wild cabbage of some parts of our 
seashore, with its few leaves only, into the beautiful cabbages cultivated in 
our gardens; or the common wild rose of the hedgerow into the beautiful 
flower we so well know. As the plants used up the original plant food 
in the soil, the animals produced manure, which decayed and was changed 
into plant food in the soil again, thus making it possible for more and more 
plants to grow. 
