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Rural School Leaflet. 



SCHOOL GARDENS 



Fig. 27. — Entrance to the Ithaca school- 

 garden 



NUMBER of persons have failed in 

 school-gardens largely because they 

 did not give siifiRicient thought and 

 preparation to the work. Some en- 

 thusiasts undertook the enterprise 

 because it was a new feature in 

 education, and v/as more or less in- 

 teresting to the public. But when 

 there was realization of the labor 

 necessary to keep a piece of ground 

 in cultivation, and the amount of 

 effort needed in the beginning to 

 keep the children interested, there 

 was not enough enthusiasm left to 

 investigate the cause of the difficul- 

 ties, and overcome them. 



Very often too much is attempted 

 the first year. Some very attractive 

 school-gardening work has been done 

 on large pieces of ground with hun- 

 dreds of children. The persons who 

 have made a success of this work 

 have had deep belief in its value, 

 and have given much perseverance 

 and time to developing the enter- 

 prise. Noting their success, many 

 teachers have endeavored to do like- 

 wise. They have had the children 



cultivate some large piece of ground, difficult perhaps to work, and 

 failure followed. It were far better to make very small beginnings, 

 teaching children to cultivate a few plants well, than to have them 

 undertake too much without knowledge or energy to complete what 

 they have begun. Let the first efforts be very simple. 



But make a beginning. Whatever the hardships, it is worth the while, 

 if for no other reason than to give the children the resource that love of 

 gardening brings into their lives. Do you think that gardening is a 

 wholesome and healthful thing for little children, for their bodies and 

 their minds ? If so, give the young persons in your community, whether 



