146 



so to some extent, but he, as a rule, lacks the enliglitened and sympa- 

 thetic parents aud the daily sight of neatly laid out gardens and plan- 

 tations. 



Now cannot the teacher fill this crying want ? How many are ready, 

 willing, anxious to minister to the spiritual needs of the community; 

 why not to the material? nay, this also is spiritual! No one is in 

 closer touch with God's work than the agriculturist, our great natu- 

 ralists were and are most godl}^ men, and a late Archbishop of Canter- 

 bury was a profound student of Nature. 



The first work to be undertiken by the elementary school teacher is 

 to lay out a garden in such a way as to permit of all the crops planted 

 therein being neatly arranged in straight lines; to effect this a regular 

 systematic plan should be followed ; accompanying this note is a plan 

 of a quarter of an acre garden suitable for a school in which it will be 

 seen that the whole garden is an exact rectangle with an inters cting 

 main path down the centre and side paths leading from it to the 

 garden fence to permit of inspection without trampling on the plots. 



The width of the main path is 6 ft., of the side piths 3 f'., and the 

 five sections (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), 24 ft. wide each (see dotted lines) ; 

 section No. 6 is 3!^ ft. wide, making each si^^le 151^ ft. long; the 

 width of the garden therefore, being 72 ft., will make: — 151^' X 72' 

 = 10,^90 sq. ft. = 1,210 sq yds.= l quarter of an acre. For a smaller 

 garden, say one-half the size, (^th acre), the same plan may be used, 

 but the scale of course, must be changed, 



Having lined out th<? plots a^d paths, the temporary pegs which 

 mark the sections should be replaced with permanent ones of hard 

 wood to serve as points from which to measure \\heu lining out for 

 planting the v rious crops; the surface soil of the paths should ihen 

 be removed to the depth of 4 to 6 inches and scattered over the adja- 

 cent plots, stones or shells laid along the edge of the plots, and the 

 path filled with gravel or sand. It is highly important that the chil- 

 dren be allowed to assist in the laying out of t'le paths and plots, and 

 if the teacher is careful to get c irrect right angles and parallels and 

 exact measurements, he will not fail to enlist the interest of the chil- 

 dren. 



The work of planting may now commence, each section to be taken 

 separately, beginning, say, with No. 6 ; reference to the plan will 

 show this to contain ba 'anas interplanted with cocoa, and plantains 

 with coffee; the bananas are l2ft. apart and the plantains 8ft. The 

 cocoa and coffee trees are not planted until the bananas and plantains 

 are large enough to give sufficient shade. The lining out should be 

 done as carefully as possible; a glance at the plan will suggest the 

 method to be employed. 



The citrus section may be taken next, plant'ng corn, when the pro- 

 per season arrives, along the lines marked, i'he nursery will consist 

 of a small seed and nursery bed, and later two rows of stocks set out 

 for budding upon. 



A careful study of the plan will render instructions as to the re- 

 maining sections superfluous ; it must be understood, however, that 

 this plan is more su.g stive thm imperative; numberless difficulties 

 will beset the teacher, but it is felt that these brief instructions will 

 be found useful when the work is taken up iu real earnest. 



