BOOK NOTES 



The School Garden Book. By Clarence M. Weed and Philip Emerson. 

 New York: Scribners 1909. 320 pp., ill. 



This interesting garden book has a title which is somewhat of a mis- 

 nomer, for of the 320 pages there are 242 (Part I) devoted to general 

 essays on plants and gardening such as one might expect in any good 

 garden book, while less than 75 pages is definitely devoted to school- 

 gardens for children. It is true that the Part I contains much useful 

 information and many suggestions which apply to school-gardens, or to 

 any other gardens, but the application is not often clearly indicated for 

 the use of teachers who are not already expert in gardening. 



Part I presents in twelve chapters "the garden month by month," but 

 this title is not always strictly applicable to the contents of the chapters. 

 For example, one is surprised to find a section of the September chapter on 

 China asters and one in the October chapter on California poppy. Of 

 course, these plants bloom in these months, but also in several earlier 

 months. In our New England climate we do not plant seeds of these in 

 these months, and so the chief excuse for including in these particular 

 chapters seems to be the opportunity to write very readable essays on the 

 beauty of the plants, and perhaps stimulate some, interest for use another 

 season. At a rough estimate three-fourths of the matter included in these 

 chapters by months does not belong in any particular month; and some 

 other grouping of the materials would have made the book much more 

 helpful to those who need help in preparation for managing school-gardens. 

 Certainly the beginner who expects to use this book for guidance needs 

 the caution that it should be read far in advance of the months designated 

 on the basis of the flowering time. Otherwise sweet peas and garden beans 

 will be remembered in July and marigolds in August and the planting will 

 be delayed to another year. 



But all such peculiarities of arrangement as those mentioned above may 

 be the result of the authors' extremely liberal definition that "a school- 

 garden is any garden in which a boy or girl of school age takes an active 

 interest." This is certainly broad enough to include anything and every- 

 thing, but will hardly be a definition for those who have become accus- 

 tomed to think that a school-garden is one which has been planned and 

 conducted as part of a definitely organized educational system. This may 

 account for the fact that the book has not been more definitely organized 

 with reference to the systematized and correlated work of schools. 



However, the above remarks are not intended as a sweeping criticism 

 of this new book, but simply to point out that the authors have failed to 

 make the most of the possibilities in arranging their materials so as to be of 

 the greatest possible use to the thousand of teachers who are interested 

 in school-gardens as part of elementary school instruction. The kind of a 

 school-garden book which most teachers really need and which will 

 develop the best educational possibilities of school-gardens has not yet 

 been published. We need a vade mecum of beginning gardening in which 

 the principles and important facts are set forth with a minimum of liter- 

 ary frills and ornamental pictures. 



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