Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 35.djvu/874

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848
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tifully repays." Having dwelt upon the plans for the garden as revolved in anticipation during the storms of March, the author gives "An Outline of the Garden," or a discussion of its general arrangement, the selection of plants, and the provision of stock. Among the first objects to be looked after are "the spring wild flowers," which have been too much neglected heretofore, but are beautiful, easily got, and (a great many of them) easily cultivated. From the attention given to the daffodil, we judge it to be a decided favorite with the author. In successive chapters are discussed "The Rock Garden," the "Summer Flowers," "Two Garden Favorites" (the lily and the rose), "Insect Visitors," "Hardy Shrubs and Climbers," flowers "In and Out of the Garden," "The Hardy Fernery," "Midsummer Flowers and Midsummer Voices," "Flowers and Fruits of Autumn," and the "Last Monk's-hood Spire," the variegated colors and the poetry of the closing season. Nearly all the plants referred to are such as may be successfully grown in the lower lake region, and have for the most part come under notice in the author's garden.

History of Higher Education in South Carolina, with a Sketch of the Free School System. By Ogden Meriwether Pp. 247.—Education in Georgia. By Charles Edgeworth Jones. Pp. 154.—History of Education in Florida. By George Gary Bush. Pp. 54.—Higher Education in Wisconsin. By William F. Allen and David E. Spencer. Pp. 68. Washington: Government Printing-Office.

These monographs constitute numbers 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the series of "Contributions to American Educational History," which the United States Bureau of Education is publishing, under the editorial supervision of Prof. Herbert B. Adams, in its "Circulars of Information." In the first paper of the group, South Carolina is shown to have been active at a very early period in promoting the mental development of its youth. Schools were founded and maintained by the State government and by private and charitable aid; and youth were sent to England to school, who on their return gave new impetus to the movement. The tardiness of the growth of colleges gave occasion for the development of a good system of academies, and training schools were brought within the reach of all. The first college was founded in 1785. At present, every religious denomination of any strength in the State is represented by its college, and attendance at most of the institutions is gradually increasing. In the main, they "follow the average college course, but, owing to want of funds, they can not offer many electives." The strongest and most famous institution is South Carolina College, which had as its president for fourteen years Thomas Cooper—a rash predecessor of Huxley and the evolutionists in the scientifico-religious discussion—and Francis Lieber as a professor for twenty years. Both of these eminent men were strong in political science, and under their influence the college gained a high reputation as a center for the study of that and correlated branches. The instruction of the negro population was well attended to during the earlier part of the history, and until, in 1834, an act was passed forbidding them to be taught. An entire change has come over the educational aspect since the war, of which due notice is taken in the history. Mr, Jones begins his sketch of "Education in Georgia" with notices of the schools that existed during the colonial epoch; then tells of the formation and conduct of academies after the Revolutionary War; and continues with a review of the elementary education afforded in the rural schools, an account of the "poor-school system," its rise, development, and decay; and a history of the beginnings of the general system of schools for whites, the application of which was interrupted by the war. The thread of the history is resumed after the war, and the present condition of the schools and colleges is described. Technological education has been made prominent, with results that are declared very satisfactory, at Emory College; the industrial department at Clark University is highly organized; and special emphasis is laid on the industrial education afforded at Atlanta University. Morris-Brown College, with two hundred and eleven pupils, is wholly under the charge of colored people. Mr. Bush's essay does not treat of the higher education alone in Florida, but sets forth in addition the growth and development of the school system of the State. It