INTRODUCTION 

 TO THE THIRD EDITION 



side life, and imprison them within the close walls of a 

 school for the greater part of a day, if we hope to retain 

 their health while we instruct them. The new school is 

 simply giving facilities for teaching in the open air what 

 is taught at present in a closed building. That is of course 

 when the weather permits, though at Mayland we shall 

 have a building protected from the weather, to be used 

 when it is too cold or too wet for outside work. There 

 will be sheds, however, in which the children even then 

 will spend most of their school time. In connection with 

 the school there will be a bath-pool. That is to keep them 

 clean outside, while we fill them with knowledge inside. 

 I have simply applied to the county to provide the ordinary 

 teaching staff and equip a larger school. I am going to 

 provide the bath, and skilled teachers for the purpose of 

 giving the children good school garden instruction. 



Mr. Hall has warned his readers against thinking that a 

 living on the land can be had without both careful and 

 intelligent work and thought. He has given instances of 

 extraordinary yields and even* of average crops with a cau- 

 tion that these results may be repeated, but that they can 

 be repeated only through work of hands and head; never- 

 theless these points can hardly be over-emphasized. The 

 dunce and the sluggard are less likely to starve in the 

 country than in the city, but they are just as unlikely to 

 secure a competence. 



