760 Rural School Leaflet. 



gypsophila (infant's breath)? Have you ever taken the black-eyed- 

 Susans from the field and arranged them in a bowl with the common 

 sensitive fern ? Have you ever arranged red poppies with oats ? 



14. Flowers of field and wayside. If I were teaching in a rural 

 school I should discuss with the children ways in which we could use 

 some of the common field plants for decorative purposes. Clovers, 

 daisies, buttercups, black-eyed-Susans, goldenrods, asters, ferns, wild 

 lupine, timothy, wheat and the like might be used for borders, and from 

 these one would be able to gather good combinations for arrangement 

 in vases for the home and school. Field plants are aggressive, but they 

 can be controlled by removing the seeds. 



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 Anh Jfatxirp'a Uutng moltflit Iput 

 Slfp pitla? of Ijojif In JitHrontrnt. 

 31 uwnirrfii at tl|p bnuntpoua liaurs, 

 SH)f slam rpBJilt of utintpr uhouiprB: 

 ^au Bttxvtt rnulb bpp \\}t grasB for flnuifrB." 



— vUrnngaott. 



15. Sun dial. Sunshine and shadow give material for many nature- 

 study lessons. Sunlight has to do with gardens. The sun dial offers 

 outdoor interest and would be desirable in the schoolyard, 



16. Playground. Some day there will be a playground in connection 

 with the school-garden. Play should be directed. Would it not be 

 possible to have a playground in every community, in which there would 

 be some swings, a May -pole, a tether ball, a see-saw, and the like ? Would 

 children in the neighborhood be attracted to such a place ? 



HOME GARDENS 



The public garden, whether on school grounds or vacant lots or in 

 parks, should be the place in which children receive intelligent instruc- 

 tion in the growing of plants, that their knowledge may be used on the 

 home grounds. On the school-garden should be grown types of shrub- 

 bery and flowering plants, as well as vegetables, that children may learn 

 something of them, so that they will be able to utilize their knowledge 

 wherever they may be in after years. 



Encourage every child to have a garden at home if possible. There 

 they should plant the things they want to grow, vegetables, flowers, 

 vines, shrubs, or trees. With ver}^ little effort a teacher would be able 

 to get the children interested in growing at least one or two things the 

 first year. In the Ithaca schools thousands of penny packets of seeds 



