Rural School Leaflet. 



941 



in the country or the city, this opportunity for development. Do not be 

 discouraged if those who sit by the wayside question your success. Some 

 persons will expect to see the children carrying baskets of flowers to the 

 hospitals at the end of the first year; they will expect the garden to be 

 a thing of beauty, free from weeds. Do not be discouraged if j'ou can- 

 not accomplish all this. If a fair start is made in the first year, time 

 will bring about desired results. Each year the work will grow stronger; 

 each year the garden can be more profitably cultivated; each year the 

 children's love of the soil and the green things growing will increase. 



Let us first consider a school-garden under favorable conditions. There 

 is a piece of ground, a half-acre, perhaps, in extent, not far from the 

 school. This ground is at the service of the teacher and the children. 

 The problem before them is to make it a productive piece of property; 

 to give the greatest educational value possible per square foot. The 

 proper handling of this work should to bring about definite educational 

 and social development for the children. Following are some of the 

 factors that should be considered in this development: 



1. Civic pride. — Every citizen should consider what part he can take 

 in making his city more attractive and more desirable in every way. 

 The children should begin to think 



of these things. Before the piece 

 of ground is touched, they should 

 be given an opportunity to discuss 

 the condition of the property and 

 make suggestions for its improve 

 ment. The school-garden should 

 be one of the most marked demon- 

 strations of civic betterment. 



2. Order. — A school-garden 

 should be an expression of or- 

 derly arrangement. If the chil- 

 dren are very young, the ground 

 should be prepared and staked be- 

 fore they begin work. With older 

 boys and girls, however, it is well 

 to let them do everything possible 

 in connection with the develop- 

 ment of the grounds. Give the children everything that you can to 

 make the giound look orderly: the stakes should be the same size, twine 

 the same quality and color, measuring lines the same, and the like. In 

 a garden connected with a settlement, I was told that the children cut 



Fig. 28. — Mangolds 



