bigblow] EXPERIENCE WITH A SCHOOL-GARDEN 83 



3. We have found great value in plants, such as geraniums, 

 started from cuttings in the spring and in the autumn transplanted 

 from garden to window-boxes and there kept all winter. 



4. So far as the pupils' studies of gardening are concerned, we 

 have found that our greenhouse and our window-boxes offer a 

 very satisfactory substitute for the gardening which we miss 

 between May and September. In the greenhouse and in the 

 window-boxes the pupils follow many plants to maturity. To 

 our surprise we have found that many old-fashioned flowers, 

 (such as zinnias and phlox) and very common vegetables (such 

 as radishes, squash and beans) are excellent greenhouse plants for 

 educational purposes. 



5. We have found it more desirable to encourage class owner- 

 ship rather than individual ownership of the small garden plots. 

 It early proved impracticable to allow many kinds of plants in a 

 bed, because it rendered the gardener's work of cultivating too 

 difficult in mid-summer. We, therefore, decided to mass varie- 

 ties whenever possible. This also gave a wider range of materials 

 for study, e. g., one class of thirty pupils has as many beds each 

 with a difficult variety of vegetable. 



6. W e have learned that some plants with large seeds(sun- 

 flowers, beans, corn, nasturtiums, four-o'clocks), or bulbs, or 

 easily-grown annual flowers (such as marigold and zinnia), are 

 best for the small children. We have preferred to give the small- 

 seeded flowering annuals to third-or fourth-grade children. They 

 have suceeded splendidly with dwarf larkspur, California poppy, 

 petunia, verbena, phlox, cosmos, mignonette, centaurea, alyssum, 

 ageratum, calliopes, cockscomb. 



7. After many trials, we have come to prefer beds about 40 

 by 72 inches with paths 24 inches wide on sides and 18 inches on 

 ends of beds. Even small pupils can easily reach to the center of 

 each bed. We have rows about 10 inches apart so as to allow the 

 gardener to expedite his work of cultivating with the scuffle hoe. 



8. We have come to believe in the manual training value of 

 preparing beds neatly, but it is often impossible to get satisfactory 

 results when the work must be rushed in the last two weeks of 

 May. The children naturally tend to get seeds planted in the 

 shortest possible time. 



9. We have come to believe that the greatest value of the 

 school-garden for most schools is as a demonstration garden 



