86 The Nature-Study Idea 



upon which all the gardening or planting fea- 

 tures are to stand: the land must be graded. 

 In some cases the soil must be removed and new 

 earth put in its place, for the soil about a school- 

 house is very likely to be poor sand or clay, or 

 a mixture with building material and other rub- 

 bish; but in general this labor will not be neces- 

 sary if only a lawn and ornamental planting 

 are desired. In some places a lawn is imprac- 

 ticable, but a good and even earth surface should 

 always be secured. The early spring is the 

 season in which to do all this shaping and seed- 

 ing of the land. The spring fever is on and 

 enthusiasm is new-born. If the school is in the 

 country, the farmers can be interested to do the 

 heavy work. If the subject has been well dis- 

 cussed in the school for some weeks or months, 

 it should not be difficult to organize the farmers 

 into a "bee" to grade, till and seed the ground. 

 There is always at least one energetic man in 

 the community who is ready to take the lead 

 in such movements as this. Much of the value 

 of improving the school-ground lies in its arous- 

 ing of public interest. 



