Why might not every school-house ground be made also an arboretum, where the pupils might have under their eyes, continually, specimens of all the trees that grow in the town or in the State where the school is situated?  It would require but a little incitement from the teacher to make the pupils enthusiastic with the desire to find out the different species indigenous to the region and to gather them, by sowing seeds or planting the young trees, around their place of study.

And if the school premises are now too small in extent to admit of such a use, let the pupils make an earnest plea for additional ground.  As a general fact our school-grounds have been shamefully limited in extent and neglected as to their use and keeping.  The school-house, in itself and in its surroundings, ought to be one of the most beautiful and attractive objects to be seen in any community.  The approach from the street should be like that to any dwelling house, over well kept 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.

TREES IN THEIR LEAFLESS STATE.