THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
277 
long leisure hours for adults will be less serious. 
6. Ethical character —A good deal of ground-work for 
character building can be laid by the proper direction of 
the biological studies. Character is the paramount ob¬ 
jective. True biology worships at the shrine of truth 
and makes constant appeals to the laws of cause and 
effect. Ethical character is merely the summation of 
endless reactions. The biologist has an endless field for 
laying the foundation stones for the appreciation of moral 
values. Instead of presenting a code of moral precepts, 
he leads the class in quest of law and truth and when he 
has found them he has caught a vision which becomes an 
element of character and right living. The perception of 
great truths such as Darwin and Mendel discovered and 
which pupils can rediscover have a natural tendency to 
uplift. 
Content —The content of the course in biology is deter¬ 
mined by these aims. In the selection of material for in¬ 
struction teachers should ask themselves the question as 
to how this plant, or process, or device can aid in making 
their pupils better citizens, more appreciative of the 
wonders of life about them. In other words, these edu¬ 
cational ideals should be kept constantly in mind. 
What one teaches is not so important as how and why 
he teaches it, or the practices set up as the result of the 
instruction. The plant and animal kingdom offers a 
world of material, usually very accessible and inexpen¬ 
sive, that may be selected with the view of functioning 
in the lives of the children. 
In an agricultural district common plants and animals 
that the farmers work with should have preference to 
groups of organisms which are mainly of interest to sci¬ 
entists only; and the fundamental processes of nutrition 
and reproduction, should be illustrated wherever possible 
by organisms of economic significance. 
Whenever biology is offered it should be humanized 
and presented in terms of community life and action. The 
best text-book of biology ever written comes fresh to the 
teacher’s hand from the pen of nature. The items in this 
book are real and compelling; and the studying of their 
photographs and the learning of their characteristics 
from a man-made book is substituting shadows for sub¬ 
stances. All the elements in the biological environment 
of the home and school that can be harnessed for service 
have a right to be considered good content. The germs 
that produce pear blight and their method of control, if 
this is a local problem, are excellent. So are the causes 
of human diseases. Insects, birds, mammals, corn, 
apples, fungi, are all recorded on the leaves ol nature’s 
community book. With proper sequence and relation to 
the objectives of education they should form the core of 
content. 
HORTICULTURE 
This work takes the form of a very practical unit in 
fruit production as a part of the course in vocational ag¬ 
riculture. This work is being given at one hundred and 
thirty-seven schools in the state and is intensely practi¬ 
cal and helpful in character, as you will see from the 
following outline: 
SUGGESTIONS FOR CO-OPERATION 
The Department of Public Instruction can do much 
through promoting in the schools of the state such prac¬ 
tical science courses as those briefly mentioned above to 
develop and foster in the growing generation a love of 
beautiful flowers and shrubs and trees and a practical 
knowledge of their proper care and conservation. Un¬ 
less such a love and such a practical knowledge are in¬ 
stilled in the minds of the young there is little hope or 
chance that as adults they will appreciate your laudable 
efforts to increase the beauty of home and school and 
community through a wider and more effective use of 
plants and trees. 
Without such a background of interest and practical, 
knowledge, the highly commendable purposes of your 
association looking toward community betterment and 
improvement can have little expectation of success. We 
are hopeful that the next and succeeding generations of 
Pennsylvanians will develop an increasing and practical 
interest and a growing joy in Pennsylvania’s flowers and 
trees, to the end that their homes and their schools and 
their factories and places of business may be places of 
delight and beauty because of their attractive surround¬ 
ings. This much the schools should and can do. 
Your local nurseries can do much to stimulate the work 
of the schools along these practical lines. Glass visits 
from the local schools should be encouraged to give the 
pupils a knowledge and an appreciation of the essential 
phases of the business of a nurseryman. Among these 
visiting groups of pupils will be found, usually, girls and 
boys who are particularly interested in and have special 
aptitude for plant and tree culture. These should be en¬ 
couraged to return to the nursery for special work and 
study to fit them to be leaders in the class work of the 
school and in the school plans for beautifying buildings 
and grounds. These same pupils will probably develop 
into community leaders who will encourage and support 
plans for general community improvement. It is not un¬ 
likely that their influences will begin to be felt at once in 
their homes in terms of better kept and more attractive 
lawns and yards. 
Local nurseries can, and many do, furnish at a nominal 
cost to their local schools, bulbs, plants, young trees for 
school decoration and demonstration. This should be en¬ 
couraged. Local nurseries should also stimulate and sug¬ 
gest school plans for conducting, say, in connection with 
the local “clean-up week,” a campaign for home and 
school and community beautification. Much interest can 
be aroused in this way in the thought that not only should 
rubbish be removed from yards and premises but some¬ 
thing beautiful and helpful put in its place. Rubbish 
and unsightly trash are not apt to accumulate in yards 
where beautiful plants and trees abound. 
Your State Department of Public Instruction appreci¬ 
ates this opportunity to co-operate with your association 
in its high educational aims for community betterment, 
and at the same time bespeaks for your own local schools 
your increased interest and co-operation in their plans 
for brighter and more beautiful surroundings. 
