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Rural School T,f.aflet. 



IV. A SALAD FESTIVAL 

 By John W. Spencer 



The early closing of school renders it difificult to take continuous good 

 care of many school gardens, but a salad garden may be sown, grown, 

 and harvested between the first of April and the closing day in June. 



If there is a place on the school 

 grounds which the children will hold 

 sacred from their games, let it be 

 devoted to three beds, each about a 

 yard long and a foot wide, and 

 planted respectively to peppergrass, 

 radishes, and lettuce. The prepara- 

 tion of these beds: the spading and 

 making fine the soil ; the addition and 

 mixing in of fertilizer, whether of the 

 commercial sort or the well-rotted product of 

 a stable; the straight "marking off;" the 

 planting of the seeds at the proper depth, 

 and the "firming" of the soil snugly about 

 them, may all be made a demonstration which we 

 hope every "apprentice gardener" will immediately 

 put into practice at home. 



The peppergrass will germinate first, but all will // 

 be above ground in about a week and in less than a 

 month will need thinning out. Do this pretty 

 thoroughly, for no plant grows well w'hen crowded. These "thin- 

 nings" may be used to make more appetizing the bread and butter of the 

 school lunches, but for the great day there should be special preparation. 



A day or two preceding some Friday afternoon, when the peppergrass 

 is well-grown, green, crisp and crinkly, when the radishes are plump 

 and full of juicy pungency, when the lettuce is forming little ruffled 

 leaves a little larger than a pussy-cat's ears, let the parents of the 

 gardeners receive a written invitation to a salad festival. 



Some of the young hosts and hostesses will be pleased to furnish a 

 few hard-boiled eggs, others a loaf or two of fresh bread, and some may 

 be skillful in making mayonnaise or cream salad dressing. Hard-boiled 

 eggs, peppergrass, radishes, and lettuce chopped together and spread 

 with salad dressing makes a most delicious stuffing for a sandwich, but 

 I dare say that my nieces know better how to combine these ingredients 

 than their uncle can tell them. 



