56 THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA 



The first thing to do is to arouse the public 

 conscience. Begin with the children. As soon 

 as they are directed to see the conditions they will 

 believe what they see. They are not prejudiced. 

 They will talk about it : teacher, mother, father 

 will hear. 



The next thing to do is to " clean up." Do not 

 begin with any ideal plan of landscape-gardening 

 improvement to be carried out at once — not unless 

 some one person is willing to do all the work and 

 bear all the expense out of his public spirit ; and 

 even this would be unfortunate, because most 

 of the value in improving a ground is to interest 

 the children in the work. Get the children 

 enthusiastic — it is easy to do — in removing stones 

 and litter and rubbish, in filling the holes, piling 

 the wood, raking the grounds. If one school 

 year were required to accomplish this work alone 

 it would be time well used. Children and teachers 

 have many interests. We are likely to expect too 

 much of them. 



The cleaning up once done, and the civic pride 

 once aroused to the pitch of keeping it done, the 

 next thing to do is to make a base or foundation 

 upon which all the gardening or planting features 

 are to stand : the land must be graded. In some 

 cases the soil must be removed and new soil put 

 in its place, for the soil about a schoolhouse is 

 very likely to be poor sand or clay, or a mixture 

 with building material and other rubbish; but in 

 general this labor will not be necessary if only a 

 lawn and ornamental planting are desired. In 



