68 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [i, 2, march, 1905 



gardening and the wholesome influences which come with the suc- 

 cessful nurture of plants. 



These examples are sufficient to show that the conditions exist- 

 ing in one locality may not exist in another. The conditions will 

 modify both the aim and the possibilities of the garden. In each 

 case the purpose of the garden should be definite, and should be 

 determined beforehand, by the nature of the surroundings and 

 the possibility of success. To attempt the impossible does not 

 speak well for one's sanity ; not to know what you are trying to 

 do shows lack of business ability ; to encourage your pupils in a 

 forlorn hope is dishonest, and the effort is foredoomed to failure. 



Summarizing, a school-garden has often failed for one of the 

 following reasons : It was simply an imitation, a fad without a 

 purpose ; the purpose was too general ; it was not adapted to 

 existing conditions ; or the connection between the end sought and 

 the plan followed was too loose. 



The success of a school-garden should be measured, not by its 

 extent, nor by the opportunity which it offers for securing photo- 

 graphs of groups of children at work, but by the effectiveness with 

 which it supplies the means of satisfying a genuine need on the 

 part of the pupils of a given school. Two gardens may be 

 equally successful, yet widely different. In a large city school 

 where the children have little opportunity for either observation or 

 work in the soil, to plant for the purpose of seeing how the com- 

 mon vegetables grow, even though there may be no prospects 

 of any crop, is entirely proper, provided the children are not 

 encouraged to hope for the impossible. If, however, such a pur- 

 pose is the leading one in a village or small city where the children 

 see the different plants growing under more normal conditions, 

 and where by a little encouragement they can be led to work their 

 own little plots at home, then such a garden shows stupidity on 

 the part of the promoter. In the smaller place its purpose should 

 be much more specific ; the school should put much more em- 

 phasis on the multiplying of plots at home, and less on show at 

 school ; more on specific knowledge of how to cultivate those 

 things within the ability of the child that may add to the beauty 

 or attractiveness of the individual home, less on how radishes or 

 potatoes grow ; more attention to those things which can be surely 

 grown, and which by their success will deeepen and extend the 

 interest in such soil lore as will make lives happier, purer and 

 more useful. 



