After this it is allowed to remain several days until the children have had ample time to learn the varieties of apples, grapes, peaches and vegetables.

The real climax of garden work is reached when we have our annual fair, in which the children and parents are most interested. The first year, parents responded liberally and several prizes were offered. Since then the children suggested no prizes other than the card which names the exhibit and exhibitor. As the children improve their exhibit each year we must conclude that they do their work in the true spirit. Jealousy and that competitive spirit which sometimes is seen in grown people to their disadvantage is not prevalent among the children. They are there to learn, and each glories in the other's success and discovers the points in their selection of fruits and vegetables which have contributed to those good results. This is also a day when we invite the neighbouring schools to participate in a short programme. The first four years have brought on an average at least six neighbouring schools. On this day we always secure some speakers. One year we were fortunate enough to have Mr. Atkinson, of the Broadview Boys' Institute, and this year Professor McCready, of Guelph, was present. These men are always an inspiration to garden work.

At the present time we are teaching the children to observe the preparation of trees and plants for the winter, are placing cuttings of geraniums in sand, teaching lessons in germination, gathering seeds, studying seeds and the methods of dispersal of same.

Much of their knowledge is gained incidentally, and most of the garden work is looked upon as play. However, we do not let it interfere in any sense with their play hours. If a child cares to work in his garden he may. We have regular stated times when we do definite work.

To illustrate some of this play-work I have here a little girl's seed collection which she was to gather from her individual plot and surroundings, and also an older child's collection, which consists of thirty seeds in all, fifteen garden seeds and fifteen weed seeds. This did not take much time from the regular school period, as they were to have the collection prepared in a few days. Some of the fifth class, also, for the pleasure of the work, are getting an additional collection in vials. The children are so interested in this work and are often seen before school in the morning, at recess, at noon, and after school at night doing this work which is play and incidentally gaining much information in agricultural subjects.

I will read a copy of a composition wrtten by one of my school boys after one year's experience in school gardening. This boy and his playmate tried the examination for Entrance the following year and both obtained 100 per cent. in composition. Mr. Bruel, of the High School, claimed that these compositions were different from the others since they were original and represented the real experience and life of the boys.

OUR SCHOOL GARDEN.

"We were all very much pleased when we found that we were going to have a garden at school, but we never realized what pleasure we would have and what we would learn until we were thoroughly started.

“Our school garden of one acre, given by Mr. M. F. Rittenhouse, is situated on the north side of the school grounds. There are twenty-four plots, each six by ten feet, and four experimental plots, ten by eighteen feet.

"About two weeks after Arbor Day we began to make paths and clean up the plots. This done, we planted a row of lettuce, a row of onions, one of beans, and one of beets, and, about two weeks later, we transplanted flowers into the beds. Among them were phlox, pansies, asters, balsams. and Helichrysum.

"In watching these flowers and the ones at the entrance of the garden, we learned a great deal about bees. In watching them work we noticed how the pollen adhered to their bodies and was thus carried from one flower to another. We also saw many beautiful butterflies among the flowers.

"The mangel contest, in which eight boys are competing, has been a very interesting one, each boy trying his best to have the finest mangels by cultivating and fertilizing. There are also eight boys competing for the pumpkin prize.

"We have shown by our three small rows of peanuts what some parts of Canada can grow. The peanuts are not ripe yet, but we expect them to do well from their appearance.

"

In growing peanuts the blossoms must be all carefully covered with earth in order to have a good crop. This is a fact that we did not know until this summer.

"We have had a good chance to distinguish the different varieties of tomatoes, for we have thirteen of them. Among the best are Marvel, Livingstone's Favorite, and New Globe, a large pink tomato.

"We have had all the melons that we could eat this year at school from our small patch of twenty hills.

"Surrounding the garden is a row of summer cypress, and about this most questions have been asked by vistors. It was very beautiful in the spring when it was green, but now that it has reached its full maturity and of a dark red color it is still more beautiful; but, as it is an annual, it has to be planted every year.

"At the south of the garden is a row of sunflowers, in which some of the largest are fully ten feet in height. They were so tall and the heads so heavy that the north wind has blown some of them over and disfigured the whole row.

"We have learned a great deal this summer, but next season we will endeavor to learn more and surpass anything done this year."

That year four pupils secured honours in their examinations, and each year since some pupil has done the same.

Failures are the exception and are not in any way attributable to the garden. For the past five years 90 per cent. of the pupils passed their examinations, showing that the results, as far as book work is concerned, were quite satisfactory.

It would be folly for me to try to tell in the allotted time all details of the work connected with a garden. Probably I have given sufficient to convince the most sceptical that much good may accrue from this. If more information is desired regarding the garden movement in our school, you can obtain a copy of a booklet on "School Gardening" which will illustrate and explain more definitely the work carried on at the Rittenhouse School, by writing to the Rittenhouse Library, Jordan Harbour.

It seems a shame that so many of our playgrounds are cramped and small and so little land is available for garden purposes when our country possesses so large

an area.

After an experience of five years in garden work I should feel it an irreparable loss to attempt to teach in either a rural or city school without the inspiration which a garden affords.

Whittier said, "Knowledge never learned at school," but he had no school garden, and would not that education have been a greater force if guided by a qualified teacher? Think of the wonderful potentialities of a seed, which a child resembles in many respects. The possibilities which may result from favorable conditions are all a great revelation to him, and very likely to be unobserved unless his education is properly directed.

In conclusion, the well-kept garden, as a means of education, also develops the sense of beauty and increases the happiness of the child by his acquisition of so much that is of real interest to him. If the child received nothing more than nobler tastes and refined ideals by such congenial environment, this alone would be a most potent factor in the formation of his character.

The aim of education is not, as many suppose, the acquisition of knowledge, but

the making of character. Personal habits which largely form the basis of right action are most easily acquired in childhood. If the physical, intellectual and moral powers are properly directed in early life, the foundation is laid for good citizenship. Since school gardening promotes these ends we cannot afford to neglect this important branch of education.

THE PRESIDENT: We have listened to an excellent paper on an important subject; it is impossible to overestimate the schoolgarden work. All over the Province we should assist in it in every way.

J. O. MCCULLOCH: When visiting the Rittenhouse School and inspecting the grounds, I could not help remarking that the part the children took care of wast better cared for than what the caretaker looked after. Tobacco, tomatoes and sweet potatoes were being grown. The great trouble elsewhere is that we have not get a Mr. Rittenhouse to put up the funds and School Boards are very apt to spend the money in some other way. In Hamilton we give prizes to the children for bulbs and flowers grown in the school grounds.

J. LOCKIE WILSON: It would repay any member of this Horticultural Society to visit the Rittenhouse School and grounds. It is the most beautiful spot in the Dominion of Canada, and every school trustee in this Province would be benefitted by inspecting that excellent institution. Mr. Rittenhouse is a splendid example of large heartedness, and it is to be regretted that there are not more like him.

W. B. BURGOYNE: I agree with every word that Mr. Wilson has said in regard to the Jordan Harbour school and all that has been accomplished through the generosity of Mr. Rittenhouse. About a mile and a half south, the Trustees of the Vineland School have a school garden rivalling in some respects, at least, the Rittenhouse School, and they are deserving of a great deal of credit for their public spirit in purchasing the amount of ground they did. Not far from that is another school garden so that there are three in Lincoln County. The St. Catharines School Board have secured Mr. Gayman as the principal of the new Alexandra School, and we hope to have school gardens in that City equal to those which Mr. Gayman has brought about at Jordan Harbour. During the last three years we built an 8-roomed school, and are now building another. There are four acres of land around both of these.

ADDRESS.

HON. J. S. DUFF, MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE.

I am pleased to have the opportunity of bidding you a hearty welcome and can assure you that I take a great interest in your work. The people at large are interested in it also, which is evidenced by the increasing demand each year for your splendid annual report.

We are pressing forward in all directions, in the orchard, the apiary and the vegetable garden, but while all are doing good work, that of the horticulturist brings a beauty to other lines of labour which they would not otherwise possess. You cannot be a successful fruit or vegetable grower without having a love for flowers. If you go to the homes of the successful vegetable growers or of the man who makes a success of his orchards or his vineyards, you will find that there is a considerable amount of taste being developed and that taste is productive of a love of the work