But what most develops a feeling of nature is the _cultivation_ of the _living_ things, because they by their natural development give back far more than they receive, and show something like infinity in their beauty and variety. When the child has cultivated the iris or the pansy, the rose or the hyacinth, has placed in the soil a seed or a bulb and periodically watered it, or has planted a fruit-bearing shrub, and the blossomed flower and the ripened fruit offer themselves as a _generous gift_ of nature, a rich reward for a small effort; it seems almost as if nature were answering with her gifts to the feeling of desire, to the vigilant love of the cultivator, rather than striking a balance with his material efforts.
It will be quite different when the child has to gather the _material_ fruits of his labour: motionless, uniform objects, which are consumed and dispersed rather than increased and multiplied.
The difference between the products of nature and those of industry, between divine products and human products--it is this that must be born spontaneously in the child's conscience, like the determination of a fact.
But at the same time, as the plant must give its fruit, so man must give his labour.
_Fifth._ _The child follows the natural way of development of the human race._ In short, such education makes the evolution of the individual harmonise with that of humanity. Man passed from the natural to the artificial state through agriculture: when he discovered the secret of intensifying the production of the soil, he obtained the reward of civilisation.
The same path must be traversed by the child who is destined to become a civilised man.
The action of educative nature so understood is very practically accessible. Because, even if the vast stretch of ground and the large courtyard necessary for physical education are lacking, it will always be possible to find a few square yards of land that may be cultivated, or a little place where pigeons can make their nest, things sufficient for spiritual education. Even a pot of flowers at the window can, if necessary, fulfil the purpose.
In the first "Children's House" in Rome we have a vast courtyard, cultivated as a garden, where the children are free to run in the open air--and, besides, a long stretch of ground, which is planted on one side with trees, has a branching path in the middle, and on the opposite side, has broken ground for the cultivation of plants. This last, we have divided into so many portions, reserving one for each child.