88 The Nature-Study Idea 



tion. It is an outdoor laboratory. It is a part 

 of the school equipment, as books, blackboards, 

 charts and apparatus are. The school-garden 

 is not adapted to all schools; or, to speak more 

 correctly, not all schools are yet adapted to the 

 school-garden, any more than they are all ready 

 for an equipment in physics or chemistry. All 

 grounds can be improved and embellished; we 

 shall be glad when all schools will also have a 

 school-garden. The making of a definite garden 

 is an epoch in the life of each school: it marks 

 the progress of the school in educational ideals. 

 The school-garden should have a special area 

 set aside for it, as any other garden, room 

 or laboratory has. Its prime motive is not to 

 be ornamental, but to be useful. The garden 

 should be a good garden, if it is to do its best 

 work. By this I do not mean that it be perfect 

 from the gardener's standpoint, but that it be 

 carefully planned and the ground put in good 

 condition. The children should do the garden- 

 ing; a gardener or teacher should not take care 

 of the children's beds for them. (For a descrip- 

 tion of actual school-garden work, see p. 205.)^ 



