1046 Rural iscHooL LEAFtEt. 



work begins you will need all your time to play marbles, watch for tlie 

 first robin, Avork in the garden, and to follow th3 plow through the fields 

 looking for an angle worm big enough to tempt the fish you saw down 

 in the Bend. In the February Cornell Rural School Leaflet, which was 

 sent to your teacher, there was an article about testing seed corn. If 

 you can not refer to this I will send you a bulletin which will tell you how 

 to do it. You will, I hope, test not only the com which you yourself 

 are going to plant, but also that which your father plants. Then, after 

 it is done, will you write me about it? 



Those strawberries and the currant and raspberry bushes which Pro- 

 fessor Wilson is going to give to the first 100 boys and girls who apply for 

 them, will bear fruit that will taste good some day. So get the bottle of 

 ink down from the shelf, and take your pad and pen — never mind if the 

 pen does scratch some — and send your order in at once. Do not send 

 for this fruit, though, unless you know 5'"ou will take good care of it. 



In this Leaflet and in those which are to follow you will find many 

 things about gardens. I hope each of you will have a garden of your 

 own and a hoe and that you Avill see to it that they get pretty well 

 acquainted with each other. If I were you I would not try to plant 

 too many different things unless you have had some experience. Those 

 great watermelons that look almost ready to roll right off the front 

 cover of the seed catalogue into your arms may be more real on paper 

 than you can make them in your garden. Some of the more hardy 

 vegetables and flowers are recommended in this month's Leaflet. Talk 

 it over with your parents and send in your order with your father's. 



It is a good plan to keep a garden book. You can make this a diary 

 or history of your garden and write in it about the things you do, the 

 things you see, and the things you raise. You can keep account of your 

 expenses, of the time you spend, and the value of your products. Per- 

 haps, too, you may wish to make notes upon the birds that come to your 

 garden and the insects that you find there. Drawings and pressed 

 flowers and pictures will make the book attractive. Next fall we hope 

 you will send these note books down here to the College to be looked 

 over. Then, too, the folks of the neighborhood will be glad to see these 

 records of your summer work when you have your school fair next fall. 



And now I will leave you to run off to your raft upon the flooded 

 meadow, to the brook that runs howling under the bridge, to the muddy 

 road, and the gray rain which will make them more muddy, and to the 

 many other things known and loved by the boy with a pair of boots on 

 in the brave days when winter turns to spring. 



Sincerely your friend, 



Milton Pratt Joxes 



