howes] THE SCHOOL-GARDEN AT BO WES] 'ILLE, CANA DA 5 I 



senior and a junior pupil having joint ownership in a piece of ground 

 (ten feet by twenty feet), working in conjunction and making a just 

 division of the spoils at time of harvest. This plan gets over the 

 difficulty experienced when juniors are shouldered with the entire 

 responsibility of managing a plot, while it does not destroy the sense 

 of ownership which makes proud the juvenile gardener. In laying 

 out and cultivating the garden plots the entire work, with the exception 

 of the ploughing of the ground, was performed by the children ; and 

 it may be added, cheei fully performed. Neighboring farmers 

 brought manure for the garden and ploughed the ground. While this 

 was being done the larger pupils made square stakes, and painted 

 them white, for marking off the plot boundaries, the work being done 

 in the children's tool-house. This, a neat ten by twenty structure, is 

 situated at the point where the three hedges meet. It contains 

 benches, a complete set of carpenter tools, also a hoe, a rake and a 

 hand-weeder for each plot, besides spades, spading forks, shovel, 

 lawn-mower, grind-stone, and many other articles useful in garden 

 work. With the aid of a tape-measure and garden lines, twenty- 

 eight plots of the size stated, separated by paths four feet wide, were 

 laid out, staked and levelled. This was all done accurately and 

 furnished a fine means of learning by doing. A certain liberty of 

 choice was allowed in the selection of seeds to be planted, and 

 sufficient of these were furnished the pupils in envelope packets prop- 

 erly labelled. The seeds were bought in bulk and the distribution 

 attended to by older pupils. Then a bright cheery day in early 

 May found the children occupied with their garden seeding. Rows 

 of lettuce, radishes, beets, onions, carrots, turnips, and other staple 

 garden vegetables were sown. One-fourth of each plot was reserved 

 for flower-culture, and in this were sown the seeds of easily grown 

 annuals, such as poppy, candytuft and marigold. Instruction was 

 given by the teacher, ostensibly as a matter of principle, but he claims 

 that the pupil received most benefit by doing his own work. Instead 

 of labels for the rows, the pupils used plans accurately drawn to a 

 scale and prepared previous to seeding. 



In this Northland of ours we are not able to put in our seeds and 

 plants at such an early date as may our cousins south of the line, so 

 Bowesville children procured shallow boxes and in early spring started 

 in their schoolrooms asters, phlox, petunias, zinnias, and balsams. 

 As soon as practicable these were transplanted to a cold frame and 

 later on moved to borders and class flower-pots. In the spring of 



