DIGGINS] 



A WILD-FLOWER GARDEN 



119 



false solomon seal, lady slipper, jack-in-the-pulpit, robin-runaway, 

 mallow and celandine. The daisy and celandine were especially 

 satisfactory. In June when school closed we left a bed of daisies 

 about six feet long and three feet wide in full bloom. 



When I was asked to take charge of this work I knew nothing 

 whatever about gardening. However, I discovered that working 

 and studying with my pupils was the most natural and delightful 

 way of learning. By the close of the season we all had become 



A wild-flower garden three feet wide by one hundred and ninety-two long " It has supplied for 

 the whole school a valuable part of its equipment for lessons in nature-study." 



acquainted with our wild flowers and knew their roots and seeds 

 and haunts as we could not have learned them from books. At 

 seven o'clock on the bright May mornings there would often be 

 from ten to twenty children of different ages waiting at the 

 school-gate, of their own accord, to accompany me to the neigh- 

 boring woods for flowers. The children greatly enjoyed these 

 excursions. It was pleasing to watch the interest the children took 

 in. the garden. They protected it and studied every little plant 

 from its budding to its seed bearing. Their admiration for the 

 azalea when in blossom was very noticeable. They seemed aston- 



