Title: The American florist : a weekly journal for the trade
Identifier: americanfloristw50amer (find matches)
Year: 1885 (1880s)
Authors: American Florists Company
Subjects: Floriculture; Florists
Publisher: Chicago : American Florist Company
Contributing Library: UMass Amherst Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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19'4- The American Florisi. 1015
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A HOUSE OF CYCLAMEN AT POEHLMANN BROS. CO.'S GREENHOUSES. MORTON GROVE, ILL., NOV. 27, 1914. School Gardening; and Welfare Work. Paper by Benjamin Hammond, Beacon, X. Y., read before the Ontario Horticultural Associa- tion at Toronto. Canada. November 12. 1914. Thirty years ago I crossed Ontario for the first time from Toronto to Lake Saint Clair and took notes by the way. Within four weeks I have crossed On- tario, east and west, from Ottawa to beyond Port Artliur and Fort William on the northwest corner of the inland seas, and you have in Ontario, a prov- ince, an empire in extent, and my opin- ion is—that energy, perseverance and patience dominates the spirit of its in- habitants, which is the spirit that sub- dues the earth and prospers. Wherever I have been in frontier settlements, there I have found the little school house, and in the larger towns the more modern school houses; even at Haileybury, 100 miles or more north of North Bay, at the headwaters of the great Ottawa river overlooking the lake, standing out the second most prominent structure in the town, was the school house with flag flying and scores of children in attendance. In Cobalt, the town of rocks aj^d ravines, stands a school-house with about 400 children. It was my privilege to go through that school while in session, and I found the boys were writing plainly; you could read every word of their copy. I spoke a few words to them, and beating in the hearts of those young lads was the impulse of appreciative response to the mighty truth when I quoted Captain Smith, of the ill fated Titanic—"Women and Children first." The training of the child determines the character of the nation, and in school much is done aside from the routine work, to bring about the ideals which make the home life of a people substantially happy. With 27 years of direct touch in the administration of local school affairs, I can say that every fad and fancy which comes up, may not be grafted upon the school without damage, but in the now common demand for steady attendance in school until 14 years or thereabout, there must be recognized this fact—that every scholar is not fit- ted especially for the clerical or pro- fessional work. As the country fills up and cities of concentrated popula- tion grow, a division of occupation may properly become a portion of modern school instruction; the economic and family aid, which may result from cul- tivation of bits of home ground is no fad. In the United States at a time of serious depression in commercial af- fairs, the late Governor Pingree, of Michigan, gave a strong impulse to the real value of cultivating for the crop value, empty city lots. In our great cities like New York and others, the in- struction of school children has a de- veloping power of great value in send- ing young children wfth naturally in- quiring minds, into new fields that otherwise would lie dormant. Even though it be but a window box of flow- ers, teach the children in class how to plant the seeds of flowers and vegeta- bles, let them have a bit of garden all their own, and the sense of proprietor- ship is engendered, which makes chil- dren more careful of flowers and well kept ground. Wherever you find a well kept door-yard, there you will find in the house a taste and appreciation of nice and tidy things. Teaching a little school gardening will affect for the better home surroundings of many and many a dreary farm homestead, which now lack adornment of tree, bush or flower, and the obliteration of barrenness around farm houses in the United States is one of the objective points of the work of many of the agri- cultural colleges. Most notably this has been done under the patronage of Cornell Agricultural College at Ithaca, N. Y., and the publications issued for years to our public schools, of cleverly illustrated nature studies in the pri- mary and grade divisions of our schools are of great benefit, both instructive and stimulating. In Guelph, Ontario, the work done there in starting teach- ers in this class of work for the bene- fit of the schools has been so well done that their reputation has gone over the line. In some of the southern states work of this character has been done to uplift the working children in cot- ton mills, and to afEord an interest in home garden work to the elders. This bit of industrial enterprise helps for better food supply. As one travels about, a home be it ever so humble, with a few flowers, has a cheer about it. This calls to mind the truth to mankind, that— "There is no place like home". At the coming Panama-Pacific exposition to be held next year in San Francisco, it is

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