Teachers' Leaflet. 6oi 



make a pumpkin pie where conditions may be made nearly uniform but 

 such can never be expected in plant growth out of doors. Again I must 

 impress you with the fact that plant comfort is not a matter of recipe. 

 Such is not true of our own comfort, neither of that of plants. It is the 

 conception of some people that an agricultural education consists in learn- 

 ing a lot of fixed formulas. This is a mistaken idea. 



LESSON CLXX. 



WHEN TO PLANT SEEDS IN WINDOW GARDENS. 



Purpose. — To teach the pupils the necessity of regulating the tem- 

 perature and giving attention to the condition of the atmosphere in the 

 room where plants are to be grown. 



In giving suggestions to an apprentice for the first lessons in plant 

 growth it is best to remember that to the smaller children only a few 

 things should be given and these in small doses. This method will 

 sustain their interest and keep the appetite keen for more. When a 

 farm lad, I was sent to the field to hoe corn. Often the field was long 

 and narrow. The rows ran at right angles to each other. In one direc- 

 tion they were long and in the other short. The field contained the same 

 number of hills whether the corn was hoed by following the long rows 

 or the short ones. Invariably I took the short rows. That was the boy 

 of it. Boys are the same to-day as they were fifty years ago and as I 

 expect them to be a thousand years to come. First, awaken an interest 

 in the subject to be taught and next give instruction by the short row 

 method and your work will be like floating down stream rather than 

 rowing against the current. In the selection of seeds for the first exer- 

 cises, take those of quick germination and early maturity. 



I shall give directions for two types of gardening, one in the house 

 and another out of doors. The first is valuable in getting a familiarity 

 with plants and may be thought of in the light of exercises ; and the 

 second as something like a practical harvest. Lessons in germination 

 of seeds like peas, beans, corn, squash and the like may go on at any 

 time of the school year. Sowing of seeds in the schoolroom for serious 

 growth should be undertaken in March or early April. Avoid the months 

 of December, January, and early February. The reasons for this are 

 two : First, too little sunshine, and second, too much baked air in the 

 schoolroom. During the months mentioned the number of hours of 

 actual sunshine are surprisingly small. The days are short and from the 

 point of view of the plant what light we get is of a weak, inefficient 

 character. This is due to the obliqueness with which the sun's rays strike 

 the earth in the latitude of New York State during that period. (See 

 Supplement.) These months are also the coldest months, and to keep a 



