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JOURNAL  CF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  October  2,  1902. 
Allowed  that  our  manners  are  faulty,  and  that  we  concede 
at  once,  the  next  difficulty  is  that  the  masses  ju  it  get  a 
crumb  of  knowledge  and  then  turn  round  and  challenge  the 
whole  world  of  learning.  We  cannot  compel  them  to  a  longer 
course,  and  they  do  not  get  enough  to  make  them  value 
more.  They  will  strive  possibly  after  out  of  the  w  v 
“subjects”  that  are  good  in  themselves,  but  of  no  practical 
value  in  the  daily  life  of  the  would-be  learner.  The  text 
book  system  seems  to  be  the  main  thing.  Outline  work 
instead  of  deep  research.  That  is  because  the  work  of  a 
lifetime  is  compressed  into  the  compulsory  school  attend¬ 
ance.  When  school  is  finished,  the  books  are  shut,  and  in 
the  majority  of  instances  the  mind  lies  fallow  and  lazy. 
But  at  last  our  educational  authorities  appear  to  be 
waking  up  ;  at  any  rate,  to  the  needs  of  country  children, 
and  we  welcome  with  satisfaction  any  move  in  the  right 
direction.  Now,  this  course  of  teaching  that  comes  under 
the  head  of  “Nature  Studies”  seems  to  us  to  be  a  likely 
plan  to  awaken  in  dormant  minds  love  of  the  country  and 
of  country  pursuits,  and  by  so  doing  may  tend  to  wean  lads 
(and  lasses  too)  from  the  ever  growing  desire  to  migrate 
to  the  towns. 
The  first  step  is  the  acquisition  of  a  garden  plot.  That 
entails  the  purchase  of  tools.  The  tools,  rent  of  ground, 
and  manures  (farmyard  and  chemical)  are  met  by  the 
Government  grant ;  the  managers  finding  seeds.  There  is 
also  an  Aid  grant  to  fall  back  upon.  We  are  struck  with 
the  fact  that  in  the  case  of  one  school  mentioned  the 
gardening  class  is  taken  by  the  mistress.  When  the  weather 
does  not  permit  of  outdoor  work,  the  children  have  con¬ 
versational  lessons,  write  essays  on  the  work  done  and  about 
to  be  done,  and  study  diagrams  and  pictures. 
From  a  well  kept  garden  to  a  well  tilled  farm  is  but  a 
step,  and  a  child  who  has  noted  the  growth  of  vegetable 
life  in  a  garden,  and  practically  studied  the  best  methods 
to  ensure  the  vitality  of  the  plant,  will  have  a  lively  interest 
i%the  crops  of  the  farm.  The  work  at  first  is  bound  to  be 
rudimentary  ;  but  it  is  at  the  early  stages  it  must  be  made  of 
interest.  Object  lessons  are  now  made  most  delightful  in 
elementary  schools,  and  this  work  touches  on  objects  that 
surround  the  child  in  its  home.  Insect  life  presents  a  wide 
field.  There  are  insects  in  the  various  stages  easily  reared, 
and  their  development  watched.  Let  them  collect  the 
objects  themselves,  remarking  where  and  when  found,  and 
the  teacher  must  do  his  part  by  explaining  why  certain 
forms  of  insect  life  are  injurious  or  otherwise  to  animal  and 
plant  life.  Fortunately  here  the  teacher  has  immense  assist¬ 
ance  from  coloured  drawings  and  diagrams  provided  by  the 
late  Miss  Ormerod. 
Then  we  pass  on  to  animal  life,  hedge  and  wood  life, 
and  it  will  often  be  found  that  intelligent  children  have 
gained  much  information  for  themselves,  which  only  needs 
to  be  put  into  some  sort  of  form  by  the  teacher.  We  see 
that  for  Standards  IV.  and  Y.  it  is  suggested  that  the  child’s 
attention  should  be  directed  to  no  less  than  thirty*  sub¬ 
jects  ;  but  we  ourselves  think  the  range  is  rather  a  wide  one. 
All  the  subjects  are  most  excellent,  but  as  the  average  child 
only  stays  in  a  standard  one  year  there  would  be  fifteen 
subjects  for  each  year.  Of  course,  it  is  not  as  if  much  time 
could  be  allotted  to  each  of  the  fifteen  subjects.  We  fancy 
the  limit  is  two  hours  per  week.  We  will  pick  out  the 
subjects  on  which,  if  we  were  teachers,  we  should  be 
inclined  to  dwell: — Food  of  plants  ;  common  garden  weeds, 
desirable  and  undesirable ;  grasses  (and  here  we  should 
suggest  the  value  of  a  good  collection  from,  say,  a  firm 
like  Suttons  or  Carter) ;  insects  injurious  to  flowers,  vege¬ 
tables,  farm  crops  ;  animal  pests  ;  bird  pests  ;  “the  farmer’s 
friend,”  as  comprised  in  animals,  birds,  earthworms.  Here 
surely  are  subjects  for  most  useful  lessons,  better,*  we  think, 
than  courses  of  tonic  sol  fa  and — but  we  dare  not  go  further, 
or  all  the  schoolmasters  of  Great  Britain  will  be  down 
upon  us. 
For  Standards  VI.,  VII.,  it  is  suggested  that  the 
formation  of  soils  be  the  first  subject,  then  the  classification 
of  the  same,  and  the  working  of  ditto,  or,  rather,  how  the 
working  affects  the  plant  life.  Land  surveying  follows  this 
course,  and  here  the  chain  plays  a  prominent  part.  Now¬ 
adays  so  much  is  piece  work  that  it  is  well  if  the  labourer 
can  check  his  own  measurement  instead  of  leaving  it,  as  is 
now  the  case,  in  the  hands  of  outsiders.  There  would  be 
fewer  disputes  between  master  and  man. 
We  cannot  go  seriatim  through  all  the  admirable  sug¬ 
*  This,  of  course,  is  optional. 
gestions  for  the  Nature  Study  course  found  in  pages  of  the 
“  Schoolmaster.”  We  are  only  afraid  the  task  as  it  stands  at 
present  is  almost  too  big  to  be  grappled  with.  That  we 
fully  agree  with  the  moving  spirit  goes  without  saying, 
and  it  is  always  best  to  try  to  attain  a  high  ideal.  We 
think  something  might  be  done  for  the  girls  in  the  poultry 
line,  for  it  is  to  them  the  care  of  fowls  is  generally  com¬ 
mitted,  either  on  the  small  farm  or  in  their  cottage  homes. 
We  are  certain  of  one  thing,  that  someone  needs  teaching 
the  art  of  dressing  for  market.  There  is  such  an  advantage 
to  be  gained  by  those  who  send  their  fowls  to  either  the  big 
centres  or  to  private  customers  ready  for  the  oven. 
We  constantly  see  fowls  on  the  table  which  fall  far  short 
of  what  they  should  be.  We  do  not  mean  they  are  not  fat, 
but  they  have  not  been  dressed  and  trussed  into  good 
form.  The  young  girls  do  not  like  the  work,  and  would 
rather  not  learn.  They  are  not  taught  soon  enough.  We 
do  not  go  so  far  as  to  say  this  is  a  subject  for  the 
Elementary  School  “  marm  ”  to  handle,  but  someone  should 
do  it.  The  fine  art  of  female  milking  is  very  much  on  the 
wane,  and  the  sister  art  of  calf  rearing. 
Here  we  are  with  a  sad  shrinkage  in  our  live  stock,  in  a 
great  measure  because  there  is  the  difficulty  of  rearing. 
The  old  fashioned  farmers’  wives  were  as  proud  of  their 
hand  reared  calves  as  the  men  were  of  their  crops.  Depend 
upon  it,  for  all  the  ridicule  thrown  upon  the  movement,  we 
must  have  women  back  as  co-workers  in  the  agricultural 
sphere — we  were  going  to  say  “  field,”  but  that  might  have 
been  taken  too  literally.  There  are,  indeed,  some  field 
operations  which  are  really  best  performed  by  women  ;  but, 
after  all,  they  can,  if  willing,  find  work  enough  and  to  spare 
in  and  about  the  homestead. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
Strong  winds  have  been  rather  trying  to  both  loaders  and 
stackers,  but  they  brought  the  corn  into  fine  condition,  and 
stacks  are  rising  in  every  direction.  Here  all  is  in  stack  except 
rakings,  and  a  corner  or  two  which  are  of  little  value,  and  will  be 
put  in  the  heap  with  them.  Raking  stacks,  at  any  rate  large 
ones,  is  somewhat  of  a  novelty  since  binders  came  in,  but  this 
year  they  are  very  bulky.  Threshing  is  general,  and  will  be  for 
the  sake  of  straw,  as  well  as  money.  Oats  are  reported  to  yield 
well,  and  Wheat  fairly  so.  Barley  has  not  yet  been  put  to  the 
test.  Farmers  are  not  paring  their  Barley  stacks,  neither  are 
they  thatching  them  at  all  freely.  This  points  to  early  threshing. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  they  will  allow  the  sweating  period  to  pass 
before  commencing.  Present-day  maltsters  are  generally  prepared 
to  take  a  big  lot  of  Barley  at  Michaelmas  if  it  is  in  condition,  but 
not  otherwise. 
As  we  anticipated,  the  price  of  Oatsi  has  tempted  farmers,  and 
rather  large  quantities  have  been  marketed.  A  dealer  tells  us 
that  he  bought  500  quarters  at  one  country  market,  that  the 
supply  is  already  exceeding  the  demand,  and  he  expects  to  buy 
at  16s.  next  week. 
The  reared  calves  are  grazing  the  old  seed  pasture  and  look 
well.  They  come  into  the  covered  yard  at  night,  and  have  an 
allowance  of  corn  cake. 
Scarce  as  hands  are,  we  saw  a  man  thatching  a  Wheat  stack 
yesterday.  The  farmer  (occupier  of  about  300  acres)  told  us  he 
had  twenty-one  men  at  work,  including  a  gardener,  blacksmith, 
joiner  and  a  saddler.  Harvest  did  not  take  him  long. 
Potatoes  will  soon  be  ready  to  lift,  but  thatching  has  to  be 
finished,  and  while  that  work  is  proceeding  there  will  be  a  chance 
to  put  the  cultivator  through  the  Wheat  stubbles.  Not  much 
can  be  done,  but  once  over  will  be  better  than  nothing,  and  they 
are  very  clean  to  begin  with. 
Lea  intended  for  Wheat  must  be  ploughed  at  once.  Many 
thin  pieces  of  seeds  were  broken  up  before  harvest.  These  may 
be  ploughed  later,  but  as  soon  as  convenient.  The  untouched 
seeds  should  be  ploughed  first,  so  as  to  get  a  stale  furrow,.  Where 
Oats  are  in  favour,  no  doubt  these  fields  will  be  retained  and 
sown  with  them,  as  the  pasturage  may  be  made  good  use  of  until 
Martinmas,  especially  where  few  roots  are  grown. 
The  sheep  are  finishing  the  Cabbages  on  the  land  where  they 
grew.  The  next  break  is  Thousand-headed  Kale,  after  which  it 
will  be  a  case  of  common  Turnips  or  nothing.  A  small  allowance 
of  Clover  is  given  them  in  the  racks,  and  ^lb  per  head  of  lamb 
food.  This  is  a  small  allowance,  but  lamb  food  is  dear,  and  Clover 
plentiful.  The  Thousand-heads  are  hardly  ripe  enough,  neither 
will  the  Turnips  be  when  we  get  to  them,  so  the  dry  Clover  will 
be  all  the  more  necessary  to  keep  the  sheep  free  from  indigestion 
and  scour.  Good  horse  corn  is  still  an  expensive  item,  and  may 
be  so  for  many  weeks  yet.  New  Oats  are  not  very  good  feeding 
though  they  are  comparatively  cheap.  Maize  is  very  dear,  and 
will  be  until  the  new  crop  comes  in.  Split  Beans,  Maize,  and 
bran  in  equal  proportions  remain  the  best  available  food  for  the 
arduous  autumn  campaign  of  three  months’  work  in  two  months’ 
time. 
