i { 2 THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE I VE W [ 2 ■ 4 -april, 1906 



schoolroom teacher to give pupils training that will fit them upon 

 leaving school to secure from the cultivation of their land the best 

 results 



"The individual garden is preferred, as it involves responsibility and 

 develops the individuality of the pupil. The individual garden work 

 should be emphasized when the child is small. As he grows older 

 and is able to do more work he should be actively employed in the 

 actual farming operations, the school garden being the connecting link 

 between the class-room instruction and the farm woik. The plan for 

 the gardens best suited to existing conditions should be adopted. 

 Beds four by six feet for the smallest children, gradually increasing in 

 size according to the advancement of the grade up to nine by fifteen 



feet, have been found by many schools to be satisfactory 



At the Riverside schrol, Oklahoma, the big garden to supply vege- 

 tables for the school is divided into fifteen squares, corresponding to. 

 the number of tables in the dining room. Each square contains goo 

 square yards. A large boy is seated at one end of a table and a large 

 girl at the other', with smaller boys and girls at the sides. Each of 

 the large boys that sit at the ends of the tables, aided by the smaller 

 ones that sit at his table, plants and cultivates one of these squares. 

 Each square is a garden complete in itself, and so far as practicable 

 the vegetables raised on it are to be eaten at the table belonging to 

 the boys that planted and cultivated the particular square. This plan 

 has been tried for the past four years, and it appears to stir up a 

 friendly spirit of rivalry, which increases the interest 



"When the beds have been prepared careful instruction should be 

 given in seed planting When a new weed appears, a speci- 

 men may be brought into the class room to be examined 



The garden beds may be cultivated, when the weather will permit. 



two or three times a week A rotation of the crops which can 



be raised in the neighborhood should be practiced in the garden, 

 planting a new crop as soon as one has been taken off the ground. 

 .... If injurious insects appear on the plants, instruct the class how 



to destroy them Something of the importance of encouraging 



the birds to nest on the farm should be explained 



■When vegetables mature, have each pupil make a careful record in 

 his notebook of the kind and quantity harvested, and encourage him 

 to try to increase the yield each year. In day schools where more 

 vegetables are raised than are required at the time for the midday 

 luncheon, they should be stored for winter use. Pupils should also 

 be allowed to take some home to their parents where the quantity 



