STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. II7 



methods of combating insect pests and fungous diseases of 

 flowers, shrubs and trees, and many other practical details in 

 maintaining pleasant home surroundings. 



In the other type of school garden — the vegetable garden — 

 we find the economic element predominating. Children are 

 frequently allowed to plant flowers in connection with vegeta- 

 bles, but this feature of the work is usually incidental to the 

 instruction in growing useful plants. Usually the garden is- 

 divided into small plats, from four to ten feet wide by six to- 

 twenty feet long, and one or two pupils are made responsible for 

 the care of each plat. Here they plant lettuce, radishes, beans,, 

 potatoes, and other farm and garden vegetables, learn to distin- 

 guish them from the weeds that threaten to choke them out^ 

 become familiar with their habits of growth and methods of 

 reproduction, discover numerous insect enemies and other pests 

 that require great ingenuity to eradicate, and gradually acquire 

 a nomenclature that adds greatly to the stock of words in their 

 growing vocabulary. 



Such gardens do not lend themselves to the realization of 

 landscape effects, but furnish many valuable lessons not to be 

 acquired in the ornamental garden, where, as a rule, all of the 

 pupils work together. Among other things they develop a 

 sense of ownership and awaken a greater personal interest. 

 With this sense of ownership comes a growing regard for the 

 property of others. It has been found in the education of 

 incorrigible boys that allotting to each boy a plat of ground upon 

 which he can raise what he will and enjoy the fruits of his labor 

 has a powerful influence in overcoming the tendency to indulge 

 in petty thieving. Furthermore, the few experiments in school 

 garden work that have been carried on in this country long 

 enough to give tangible results indicate that children who have 

 engaged in work of this kind at school acquire a wholesome 

 respect not only for the individual property of others, but for 

 citv property and other corporate property, for the shade trees 

 in the streets and the shrubbery and flowers in parks. 



The individual-plat system, also, more than any other, fixes 

 personal responsibility. There is no chance to shirk it. If any 

 plat shows neglect, the teacher knows where to fix the blame. 

 If another shows excellence in design or painstaking effort, the 

 teacher knows where praise should be bestowed. It has been 



