May, 1900. 



Junior-Naturalist Monthly. 



Issued by the College of Agriculture and Experiment Station of Cornell University, 

 under Chapter 4^0 of the Laws of 1899, of the State of New York. 



Entered at the Post Office at Ithaca, N. Y., as second class matter. 



Vol,. I. CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, N. Y. No. 8 



A CHILDREN'S GARDEN. 



E want every school child in tlie state to grow 

 a few plants this sunnuer. We want every 

 one of them to learn something of why and 

 how plants grow, and the best and surest 

 way to learn is to grow the plants and to 

 watch them carefnll}'. We want every one to become interested in 

 everything that lives and grows. It does not matter so very much 

 just what kinds of plants one grows, as it does that he grows some- 

 thing and grows it the best that he knows how. We want the 

 children to grow these plants for the love of it, — that is, for the 

 fun of it, — and so we propose that they grow liowers ; for when one 

 grows pumpkins and potatoes, and such things, he is usually think- 

 ing of how much money he is going to make at the end of the 

 season. Yet we should like some rivah-y in the matter in every 

 school, and we therefore propose that a kind of a fair be held at the 

 school house next September, soon after school begins, so that each 

 child may show the flowers which he has grown. What a jolly time 

 that will be ! 



Now, we must not try to grow too many things or to do too much. 

 Therefore, we propose that you grow sweet peas and aimual phlox. 

 They are both easy to grow, and the seeds are cheap. Each one has 

 many colors, and everybody likes them. Now let us tell you just 

 how we would grow them. 



1. The place. Never put them — or any other flowers — in the 

 middle of the lawn, — that is, not out in the center of the yard. 

 They do not look well there, and the grass roots run under them 



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