152 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



as to proper use by the children. For the exterior of buildings, if frame, 

 we may have white trimmed with green, buff trimmed with terra cotta, 

 dark red trimmed with brown, and so on. The woodwork of brick 

 buildings should be painted to harmonize with the brick, either by 

 analogy or contrast. 



Ornamental trees should be found on every school ground. Flower 

 plots tastefully arranged add to the effect and beauty of the grounds. 

 All of these things should receive due consideration at the hands of the 

 people and boards of education. 



The modern schoolroom is a workshop and should be conveniently 

 arranged. The library, apparatus, and cloak room should be arranged 

 in the most convenient places, and it should be remembered that it re- 

 quires thought and plan to do this work properly, because these things 

 do not come by accident. 



The woodwork should have a rub finish. There should be no shiny 

 surfaces or varnished surfaces in the schoolroom. The best light for the 

 schoolroom is from the north and east, or from the north and west. The 

 house should face the south, if possible. The floor should be the dark- 

 est surface and the ceiling the lightest. 



In rooms lighted as mentioned above the following tints may be used 

 for the walls: orange yellow, olive green, gray, buff, and the ceiling 

 should be a light tint of the same color. Rooms having principaliv a 

 northern light should be tinted with warm colors, that is, with cream or 

 orange yellow. With stronger light, we may use the other colors men- 

 tioned. The tints of red, blue and violet should be excluded from the 

 schoolroom, as they are extremely trying to the eyes. The colors in 

 hallways should be rich and strong and not delicate. Oil colors are the 

 best. On the wall, about twenty-four inches from the ceiling, where the 

 color begins to shade off into the lighter tint, there should be a molding 

 upon which pictures may be hung, and this molding should be tinted to 

 harmonize by contrast with the walls. Tints of cream and buff harmon- 

 ize well with oak or Norway pine finish. The shades should be usually 

 of the same color as the wall but slightly darker and should draw up 

 from the bottom instead of let down from the top. 



After the walls have been properly tinted, the decorations by means 

 of pictures and furniture can be arranged. The national flag should 

 never be used as a wall decoration. First, because it is very difficult to 

 secure other furnishings to harmonize with it, either by analogy or con- 

 trast, and second, it is the sacred emblem of our country and should be 

 displayed from the flag staff rather than from the wall. 



In the hanging of pictures we should consider spaces, that is, place 

 large pictures in large spaces, and so on, and if possible they should be 

 hung on a level with the eye of the observer. The best decorations and 

 the best pictures should be in front of the pupils, and pictures should 

 be adapted to the ages of the children. On the walls of rural schools 

 should be found pictures that appeal to the young children and those of 

 intermediate grades and to mature pupils, in order that all may be 

 touched by the unconscious influence which the pictures bring into the 

 schoolroom. 



In purchasing pictures we should secure the best. No cheap chromes, 

 portraits or colored landscapes should be used. Lithographs, if excel- 

 lent, photogravures and photographs are the best. Copies of famous 

 paintings can now be purchased at so small a figure that no school dis- 



