SO THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW it- -feb., 1909 



soil. Insects beneficial and harmful to a garden were studied, 

 and it is safe to say that the homely toad has no better friends 

 than among the school boys of Delphi. But with all the benefit 

 thus secured the true value of school-gardens will not be known 

 until teachers supervise their cultivation during the growing 

 season. 



On the east side of the grounds was planted a fruit orchard. 

 Three dozen trees are now growing nicely. Here it will be pos- 

 sible to give practical lessons in fruit growing. Already have 

 the boys learned the evil designs of the coddling moths on apples 

 and of the aphids on cherries ; the woodpecker is a gallant knight 

 to the rescue. 



Beside the orchard the pupils have begun a forest by planting 

 nuts of trees common to the community. There may be thus 

 started a miniature experiment station in forestry for the country. 



Perhaps the most beautiful section of the garden is the steep 

 but well-sodded hillside. This has already received the returns 

 of many excursions by high-school students. It contains many 

 species of wild flowers and shrubs and the purpose is to place 

 within it all species common to its botanical belt. It is being 

 planted after the manner of nature with the wildness of nature 

 intensified. Its value to nature-study in the grades and to 

 botany in high school maylprove incalculabe. 



Some attention has been given to the care of cultivated 

 flowers. Citizens have been generous in sharing plants and 

 shrubs of their homes. Odd nooks and corners have been 

 utilized for a display of summer bloom lasting into autumn. 

 Old fences have been decorated with vines. On either side of the 

 drives, and in the triangular spaces between, foliage plants and 

 flowers are grown. A civic pride is thus awakened, for Flora 

 keeps watch with Ceres and Pomona over the garden. And in 

 the soil lore of this garden there is a real magic to which the hu- 

 man myth and fairy tale appear only as lingering shadows. 



What the future of the gardens will be depends upon the atti- 

 tude which superintendents will take toward them. The 

 community is willing to support their rational development. 

 Our country is not old enough, nor our population dense enough 

 to demand the attention given to school-gardens in Germany. 

 But there can be no doubt of their value as a means of informa- 

 tion on various lines of human knowledge. Nor can there be any 



