OrnaDienting Our School Yards. 441 



tors and fellow-guests ai the annual Shaw banquet: The first and most 

 important requisite for the improvement of the school grounds in any 

 community is the presence in that community of at least one person, 

 either the teacher or a patron of the school, who is really interested in 

 the improvement of the grounds. Until there is a desire for more artistic 

 grounds existing in the minds of those who are directly interested and 

 who must make the improvements, it is useless for others to plan or 

 attempt to execute such improvements. If, on the other hand, there is a 

 single determined individual in the community who is thoroughly 

 familiar with the principles of landscape gardening as applied to small 

 yards, such an individual may be the means of transforming the bare, 

 harsh, cheerless, immodest school grounds into a picture which will give 

 pleasure to the pupils and to every passer-by. Such an individual should 

 have good ideals and should be able to give good reasons for the correct- 

 ness of these ideals. He should go to work systematically as would the 

 inventor or propagator of a new variety of plant. He should have 

 clearly in mind the end to be accomplished, and avail himself of every 

 favorable opportunity to convey his ideals to others whose influence and 

 assistance he must have. Talks with the men, women and children 

 of the community, which shall set forth set forth clearly and without 

 ostentation, the fundamental principles in the beautiful arrangement of 

 trees and shrubbery in yards, Avill result in the growth of a sentiment in 

 favor of better surroundings for the schools. If, in addition to this, 

 there is offered any opportunity of implanting these ideals in the minds 

 of the people, at public meetings, or if the attention of the women's 

 clubs can be drawn to the subject, the desired result will be more rapidly 

 gained. 



If the teacher can be interested to the extent of believing that better 

 surroundings are desirable and possible, systematic instruction may be 

 given in the schools. Here, as elsewhere, the first requisite for proper 

 instruction is knowledge of the subject. The teacher must have had 

 the proper instruction himself. The summer course in agriculture and 

 horticulture offered at the Missouri State University gives an opportunity 

 for such instruction. The Bureau of Nature Study of Cornell University 

 will give valuable assistance. The experience and practices of the 



