404 STATE HOKTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



is not intended as a barrier, but as a simple definition of limits, the disposition 

 to trespass being left entirely to the honor of the pupil. The pupils are told 

 in spring-time that the flowers are cultivated for their pleasure and profit, and 

 not to be picked without permission — no further admonition is required. 



We had a fine collection of flowers, including the choicest varieties of 

 Geraniums, Heliotropes, Gladioli, Tuberoses, Verbenas, Pansies, Asters, 

 Balsams, and Tea Roses, which we cultivated with best results. Our garden 

 received the second premium of the county at the agricultural fair ; the first 

 on Gladioli and the second on Pansies. 



We tried our skill at a foliage bed. The bed was circular, twelve feet in 

 diameter; Castor Bean plant in the center, and filled up with Amaranthus, 

 Perilla, and Centaurias. The Perilla with its dark, deep-fringed, chocolate- 

 colored leaves, contrasting with the white, silvery Centaurias on one side, and. 

 the scarlet-crowned, tri-colored leaves of the Sunrise Amaranthus on the other, 

 makes as elegant and showy bed as one could desire. Our school boys called 

 this "the boss foliage bed of the town," and so pleased were we with our 

 success that we have decided to make greater efforts the coming season. 



FLOWERS IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM. 



We recently visited a school-room in Alameda county where there were 

 blossoming vines of Maurandia in pots in the windows, together with yellow 

 and scarlet Tropeolums, and boxes of Pansies, while two hanging baskets of 

 Lobelias and Coleus made the room look much more pleasant than the average 

 school-room. It was told us in strict confidence that the total cost of this 

 flower display was twenty cents for Pansy and Lobelia seed. The rest of the 

 plants were raised from cuttings, and the baskets were home-made. — California 

 Horticulturist. 



BEAUTIFYING SCHOOL GROUNDS. 



Mr. Vick, in his Magazine, says : "With a heartfelt pleasure we received the 

 announcement that a convention of the teachers of the State of "New York, 

 recently held at Canandaigua, besides other progressive resolutions they passed, 

 was one to the effect that the patrons of country schools should ornament the 

 school-rooms, and enlarge and beautify the school grounds. It is proper that 

 this expression should emanate from the teachers, and to our minds is indi- 

 cative of the final accomplishment of the object. If the teachers assist in the 

 movement, it will succeed ; the rate of motion at first may be slow, but, with 

 the progress of the enterprise, it will gain momentum, until it shall have 

 passed over our entire land, and we shall be able to point with pride to the 

 external appearance of these modest seats of learning, as we do now to the 

 results of mental training there acquired." 



CULTURE OF THE SOIL IN PUBLIC SCHOOL YARDS. 



The enormous growth of our population, and the little unoccupied area left 

 for further free expansion, should suggest the serious thought, whether we 



