Arbor Day Leaves - A Complete Programme For Arbor Day Observance, Including - Readings, Recitations, Music, and General Information by Nathaniel Hillyer Egleston
page 34 of 79 (43%)
page 34 of 79 (43%)
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walks bordered by green turf, with trees and shrubs and flowers
offering their adornment. Everything should speak of neatness and order. The playground should be ample, but it should be in another direction and by itself. Europeans are in advance of us in school management. The Austrian public school law reads: "In every school a gymnastic ground, a garden for the teacher, according to the circumstances of the community, and a place for the purposes of agricultural experiment are to be created." There are now nearly 8,000 school gardens in Austria, not including Hungary. In France, also, gardening is taught in the primary and elementary schools. There are nearly 30,000 of these schools, each of which has a garden attached to it, and the Minister of Public Instruction has resolved to increase the number of school gardens and that no one shall be appointed master of an elementary school unless he can prove himself capable of giving practical instruction in the culture of Mother Earth. In Sweden, in 1871, there were 22,000 children in the common schools receiving instruction in horticulture and tree-planting. Each of more than 2,000 schools had for cultivation from one to twelve acres of ground. Why should we be behind the Old World in caring for the schools? By the munificence of one of her citizens, New York has twice offered premiums for the best-kept school-grounds. Why may we not have Arbor Day premiums in all of our States and in every town for the most tasteful arrangement of school-house and grounds? These places of education should be the pride of every community instead of being, as they so often are, a reproach and shame. |
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