THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE 

 IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



Vol. 6 April, 1910 No. 4 



AGRICULTURAL NATURE-STUDY AS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE SCHOOL 



GARDEN 



By FRED L. CHARLES, University of Illinois 



!'ni- >()nic years the writer has l)eeii iiitei\'>tc(l in a(hi])lin,L;' 

 for pupils oi the fourth i^rade and older. e.\])eriinental >tudie> 

 with plant varieties and with fertilizers, of sneh a ehai'aeter 

 that delinile seientilic restilts should be achievc-d both \<>v edu- 

 cation and for agriculture. It is his contention that a thorough 

 working- knowledge of a subject, together with a thorough 

 working knowledge of children, will make it possible for the 

 fundamentals in almost any field of science to be satisfactorily 

 presented in the nature-study course of the elcmentar\- school. 

 The present article will give somewhat briefly the method and 

 results of some garden studies made by a fcmrth grade class in 

 the training school of the Xorthern Illinois State Xon.ial 

 School at DeKalb. 



The point in vegetable gardening for profit is to get into 

 the market earlw In the school garden, likewise, it i- desir- 

 able to grow cro])s which will mature before the end oi tlie 

 s])ring term, thtis a\-oiding the vacation problem. To be -nre, 

 cirtain crops which do not mature until fall and which de- 

 mand a minimum of cultivation, may be grown without seriotis 

 difficulty under usual conditions, btit such <|uickl\- maturing- 

 vegetables as the radish, lettuce, pea. s])inac]i. chard, ei-os 

 'pepper grass) and beets (for greens), are per]ia])s be^t for work 

 •vith younger ])tipils. 



The cs-entials in niarlsel gardening. a> in other i'orni- of 

 agrictiltiu-al ])tn-suit. are a delinite ])lan. g( .od sr-d. good v,,il. 

 a good season, good >en>e. and something oi the >eience oi ag- 

 riculture. 



(T) A definite pl'du involves a drawing of th<' ■.■ ■'■•m 



])lat to scale, indicating the ])lanting scheme, ilie \ari-: 

 Ijlanted and the area de\oic'd to each. In a ela-- wl 



U ■ ! I ■ L' r 



