ioi8 Rural School Leaflet. 



in the springtime, to stir up the soil, and plant seeds. If the little patch 

 of ground is cared for until school closes, the plants will doubtless have 

 sufficient start to thrive in spite of the weeds. At any rate, there will 

 be something in the autumn that the teacher can use for Nature-Study 

 lessons. 



In the article on gardens in this Leaflet, written for children, Dean 

 Bailey has given essential points in gardening. If the teacher will 

 encourage the growth of vegetables and flowers by suggesting an exhi- 

 bition in the school in the fall and offering a few prizes the movement 

 will continue with much more interest. I know a teacher in a city school 

 who started her children on home gardening and during the summer 

 visited a number of the gardens. "While some teachers will not feel 

 like giving any of their vacation to this work there are some whose 

 interest in children is sufficient to make such sacrifice. However, the 

 personal attention will not be essential if they give the children the right 

 start and mention the gardens occasionally. 



Seeds. — If a large piece of ground is to be cultivated by the children, 

 it would be well to secure the seeds in bulk. Some of the older children 

 will enjoy putting them up in packets and marking them. This will be 

 a good school exercise. The teacher with some of the children might 

 estimate the number of linear feet to be planted with each kind of seed. 

 If the teacher does not know the quantity needed for this estimate, the 

 seedsman will tell her. If there are but a few children in the school 

 or a small piece of ground to be cultivated, the penny packets will be 

 found satisfactory. These can be purchased of James Vicks' Sons, 

 Rochester, N. Y. 



Testing seeds. — Children should acquire the habit of testing seeds 

 which they purchase. This may. be done in the following way; Take 

 a five-cent cake tin. On the bottom place a layer of cotton wadding to 

 absorb and retain the moisture ; over this place a sheet of moist blotting 

 paper marked off in squares, each square labeled with the kind of seed 

 to be tested. Place another blotter over the seeds, and cover the tin 

 with another of the same size, or a thin board. Place the tester in a 

 warm room and keep the blotters moist. 



Wild gardens. — In some schools the children have very interesting 

 wild gardens. A piece of ground has been selected for this purpose, 

 the soil enriched with earth from the wood, and as the years pass the 

 children have added to the number of wild plants. Wood plants should 

 not be transplanted while in blossom. If the teacher will take her pupils 

 to the woods some day in spring and mark the wild plants by means of a 

 piece of wood strong enough to resist the storms of spring and summer, 



