Nothing has been said as to various forms of gardening which in one case or another may be possible, such as the rock garden, the bog garden, the wood garden, because the necessary conditions do not universally obtain-the happy possessors of such opportunities will not be slow in availing themselves of them.

If we have to exclude the cultivation of perennials, as often requiring years for the development of their full beauty, and occupying more space than can usually be allotted; of biennials, for the flowering of which few boys would wait; and of all tender plants requiring the protection of glass, it may be asked whether the results attainable are worth attaining. This question will best be answered by considering what gain should result from even such a limited form of gardening as has been sketched. And in the forefront should be placed the creation or development of a taste for beauty, not only in colour but in form, not only in flower but in foliage and habit, the recognition of which will give an additional interest to every walk. A second advantage would lie in the impetus a study of plant life gives to the powers of observation and comparison. Endless are the points of interest. which occur in one's garden from January to December.

In gardening, again, will be found a solution for the happy employment of many an interval which might otherwise be unprofitably employed; a love of neatness and orderliness will result and will grow with years, while such a rough working knowledge of the essentials of garden lore will have been acquired as will render easy and desired the creation of a garden whenever and wherever the opportunity for doing so occurs.

A short list is appended of bulbs, annuals and summer bedding plants which will prove satisfactory under most circumstances. Daffodils.-Barri conspicuus, pallidus præcox, minor, cynosure,

Sir Watkin, Johnstoni, Queen of Spain, obvallaris, Golden Spur, Emperor, Empress, Horsfieldii, campernelle rugulosus Anemone.—Blanda, apennina, nemorosa and n. flore pleno, fulgens, stellata, and, in hot positions, palmata.

Scilla. Sibirica, and S. multiflora, which is three weeks earlier. Chionodoxa-Lucilia and Sardensis.

Iris.-Reticulata, histrioides, persica, hispanica and anglica, the last two flowering in June to July; hispanica flowers first. Winter Aconites.—One of the earliest flowers to bloom. Grape Hyacinths (Muscari).-Azureum (flowering in Feb.), botryoides, b. album, b. leucophæum, Heldreichi, paradoxum. Dog's Tooth Violets (Erythronium).-Red, white, and purple varieties, as well as giganteum and grandiflorum.

Crocus. In addition to the ordinary Dutch sorts (Mont Blanc, white, Sir W. Scott, striped, Purpurea grandiflora (fine blue) for spring flowering, C. imperati, and if autumn-flowering kinds are required, speciosus and pulchellus.

Hardy annuals for sowing in March or in September. to flower the following spring, might include Agrostemma, Sweet Sultan

Argemone grandiflora, Bartonia aurea, varieties of Clarkia, Collinsia, Convolvulus minor, Delphinium ajacis and D. consolida, Dimorphotheca pluvialis, Erysimum Perofskianum, Phacelia campanularia, Gilia achilleaefolia major, Glaucium tricolor, Godetia, Hibiscus africanus, Sweet Pea, Leptosiphon, Limnanthes Douglasii, various Linarias, Linum grandiflorum. Lupinus Hartwegii, Nemophila insignis, and others, Nigella hispanica, Shirley Poppies, Viscaria oculata, Whitlavia grandiHora, Nasturtium, Silene saponaria, Mignonette, Platystemon californicus.

While the occupants of the beds during the summer would naturally consist of geraniums, especially ivy-leaved and bronzeleaved varieties, Cherry Pie, Begonias, Balsams, Fuchsias, Ageratum, Lobelia, Erinus (Blue Stone is one of the best varieties), Cornflowers, Pansies, Indian Pinks, Calceolarias, Gaillardias, Petunias, Perilla, Salpiglossis, Scabious, Asters, Pansies, Pyrethrum aureum. A. C. BARTHOLEMEW.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL TRAINING IN

PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

THE aim of this article must be twofold. (a.) To discuss some of the problems presented to the headmaster of a preparatory school in connection with the general conditions of health in his school and the physical training of his pupils. (b.) To mention some of the methods employed by the writer or known by him to be employed in schools similar to his own.

There is no need so much as to mention the use of specific remedies for specific diseases. These are the province of the medical adviser, not of the headmaster The latter can only be held responsible for the general conditions which go to make up the healthy life of the school. I shall allude to what I consider the right relation of the doctor to the school It is the doctor's business to show interest, and to give advice in all matters connected with the health of the school, sometimes ever to veto or insist upon some detail, but it is the master who is responsible for the general conditions, and we may venture to claim that he is better qualified to organise and control these than any doctor who has not been the head of a nursery of small boys varying in number from twenty-five to sixty and upwards.

Perhaps to a greater degree than any other kind of professional life, that of the school-master is liable to sudden anxiety on the score of health. By its nature it is so, and if he would reduce the frequency of these occasions to a minimum he must. needs think much and deeply of them. It is not an easy thing to do this and not let the rest of the work suffer in consequence. The man must be strong in nerve and self-control and sympathy and tact, and above all strong in foresight. He will not meet with much sympathy, indeed he does not wish his thoughts to be apparent. They must permeate not pervade every department, or they will spoil the whole. Until he has himself seen the consequences of some apparently trivial omission, has known what might have been saved by a little more care, a man, especially a young, strong, athletic man, is naturally inclined to look upon details of care as coddling and softening. It is right. enough and a wholesome corrective that he should think so as a private individual, but as a head master he will not think so. He knows that the Spartan treatment upon which Jones will thrive means pleurisy or bronchitis to Brown, and since he has to arrange for two dozen Jones's and two dozen Brown's, it is difficult to persist in as hardy a treatment as he would like. Consequently health occupies and must occupy as much of his mental horizon as other parts of his work. Is there not even a subtle danger lest in some schools, especially in small schools, or schools in well-known health resorts, the care for health should occupy more of the horizon than the care for character.

To proceed to details. It is obvious that the first care should be to exclude epidemic diseases. It may be said "No," the

first care should be positive not negative, to secure good general conditions, not to be on the look out for diseases. The order is immaterial. Let us take the negative and exclusive side first, for I submit that in doing the one you will not leave the other undone. No precaution which can be backed by reasonable medical authority can be thought superfluous. The saving

clause should be noticed; the doctor must be at the master's back, else fads and fuss are inevitable. The doctor may have fads, the doctor may appear fussy, let him! The master may not. The one knows, or is expected to know, what he is about. The other may have "nerves." Drainage, water supply and sanitary conditions must be not only perfect, but regularly inspected. A terrible burden is this perfection sometimes, but a necessary one, and recognised as such by all. It is vexatious to be always liable to the information that such and such a "trap," or ventilator, or shaft, which was recommended by the highest authority a year or two ago, is now found to be inadequate, or ineffective. The circumstances have changed; the school has grown, sanitary science has progressed. What is to be done? must we be always changing? always tinkering? It looks like it sometimes; but I believe the only common-sense attitude is, first to get an expert who can be trusted, trusted, that is, not only to know what is best, but also to seek his employer's interest as well as his own, and refrain from unnecessary patchwork and expenditure, and then to carry out his instructions. There is no middle course; workmanship and system, whatever it may be, must be of the best. Makeshifts and laisser aller will bring their own punishment, and, alas, not to the schoolmaster alone, but to those whom he has deceived. In this context I may perhaps mention what I believe to be a want. There are many excellent and reliable sanitary engineers, and many ways-good, bad, indifferentof inspection, from the local M.O.H. to the diplomaed and titled professor of public health, but what a diversity in their recommendations, and in their charges! If public authority is to touch private venture schools at all, can it not begin with this: To give us some sanitary court of appeal, to do for us what the Local Government Board does for public works and offices, or at least, if not to compel us to submit to inspection, to allow it to us, an inspection to which we could turn confidently, knowing that it would give us an honest and unbiassed opinion. Nay, I believe it would be best if it could compel us to conform to its regulations. We should then know what we are doing. Public inspectors and engineers are of course not infallible, any more than private experts, but we should at least be delivered from the uncertainty as to whose advice to follow; from the haunting fear which overtakes the most guiltless at times that in the hands of expert and contractor he is but a defenceless prey.

It is the practice in almost all schools to demand a certificate of health from the parents at the beginning of each term. Some use forms drawn up by themselves; others such as may be found in Dr. Clement Dukes' " Health at Schools"; others again, those issued by the Medical Officers of Health Schools Association. It