WINTER MEETING, 1879. 13 



and too often the story told is a very unplensaiit one to ihink about. School 

 houses commonly have unsightly outbuildings, broken witidows, clapboards 

 off, and the ground littered with wood, brush, clul)s, etc., witli mudholes in 

 front of the steps, and if there is not a rare chance for improvement here 1 

 am no judge of such matters. Mr. Latta did not give in detail any plan for 

 ornamenting school grounds. I would like to ask him to give us a little light 

 here. 



Mr. Latta. — It is difficult to give advice except one knows the situation of 

 the grounds and sometliing of the district as well. In general terms I should 

 say, have larger grounds than are usually given to this purpose and plant 

 groups of shade trees, giving as much variety as consistent. The outbuild- 

 ings I would have screened with evergreens, and upon the whole ground I would 

 get a moderately smooth turf as soon as possible. 



Prof. Beal. — The great difficulty lies in getting the town superintendents 

 and district boards interested in any such project. I should name three im- 

 portant points to strive after in pushing this matter to a practical undertaking: 



1st. Secure commodious grounds and see that the house is kept in perfect 

 repair. 



2d. Grade the surface smoothly and seed down. 



3d. Put in here and there collections of trees and shrubs and care for them. 

 I would attempt very little in the way of flowers at first, some teachers might 

 succeed in doing something of this kind, but the majority will fail. 



Secretary Garfield. — What does Prof. Beal think of introducing plants for 

 purposes of instruction in botany, as well as for ornamental effect? 



Prof. Beal. — Inasmuch as generally we have throughout the county no 

 spring schools I imaofine very little can he done with flowers for this purpose, 

 and as for shrubs and trees occasionally a teacher might do something toward 

 employing them as a means of instruction but it woukl be the exception rather 

 than the rule. To be frank I have very little hope in this direction with the 

 present aspect of affairs as regards our schools. 



Judge Lawton. — I am in favor of ornamenting school grounds and road 

 sides, but there is little to encourage with the cattle of the country having the 

 freedom of the highways. If school grounds are ornamented they must be 

 cared for by somebody, — that person should be the director of the district, but 

 as he gets no pay for it how can you expect him to preserve the property as he 

 would his own. As matters stand I tiiink the simplest thing that can be done 

 is the best. In Lawton we chose an oak grove and erected our school house 

 in the midst of it. I am opposed to the children's remaining at school many 

 hours a day any way, but while there would like to make it as pleasant as pos- 

 sible for them. 



Mr. Latta. — My conviction is that we must begin this matter with the child- 

 ren. They must be interested, and when once you have their hearts in the 

 work the main difficulty is overcome. 



President Lyon. — Gentlemen, I do not know as you are thoroughly aware of 

 it, but I assure you in awakening the people to a proper consideration of this 

 question you have undertaken a big job. You must go back of the school- 

 house, the school-grounds, and the children, to the homes, and there work a 

 while first before you can expect to accomplish much directly. When men 

 begrudge a few feet of ground for an evergreen tree because the same space might 

 be profitiibly occupied by a potato hill; wiien men narrow down their front 

 yards to enlarge their grain fields and pasture lots, you need not expect very 

 much enterprise hi the direction of ornamenting school premises. And after 



