58 THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA 



interesting because it appeals to the onlooker as a 

 picture as a whole and not as a collection of 

 plants. 



The real school-garden is a different idea from 

 all this. The school-garden is for purposes of 

 direct instruction. It is an outdoor laboratory. 

 It is a part of the school equipment, as books, 

 blackboards, charts and apparatus are. The real 

 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 

 adapted to 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 improvement of the grounds 

 is the first consideration : that is primarily a 

 question of civic pride. The making of a definite 

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

 marks the progress of the school in pedagogical 

 ideals. 



The school-garden should have a special area set 

 aside for it, as any other garden or laboratory has. 

 Its prime motive is not to be ornamental, but to be 

 useful. The ground should be " good, " well 

 prepared, well tilled. The garden should be a 

 good garden, if it is to do its best work. 



Just now there is much interest in school- 

 gardening in the United States. This interest is 

 the beginning of a new movement which will take 

 the pupil out-of-doors and to nature, and will 

 relate his school life to his real life. The primary 

 effort should be to arouse the public conscience 



