180 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [7:7— Oct., 1911 



go home empty-handed and discouraged. It is amusing to see 

 the joy children show when they have a pumpkin. Every child 

 in the school had at least one pumpkin last fall, which, no doubt, 

 has long since been made into a Jack-o-lantern, or, perhaps, into 

 goodly pies. Most of the children also carried home all the beets 

 and carrots they could carry. Many came back two or three 

 times to take home their produce. Quite a few were fortunate 

 enough to have peppers and tomatoes, cabbage, popcorn, root- 

 crops, besides flowers. We try to restrict the choice of crops 

 to be grown in the gardens to the commoner kinds, kinds that 

 will be ready for the children when they come back in the fall, 

 and not those which mature in summer, when so many of the 

 children are away from the city. We find, however, that with 

 a little encouragement, many of the children will come to take 

 care of their gardens after school has closed. 



Our aim in this garden work is to make the children realize 

 something on their garden experience and teaching, not only in 

 material form, but to gain knowledge which they can use in 

 their homes. We aim to give them knowledge of garden handi- 

 craft that will be of use to them after they have left school. 

 We found that the small, individual garden bed, six by ten 

 feet in size, was not practical for the older children, that it did 

 not hold their attention and interest as when they first started 

 gardening. This is not strange, for a garden of this size, a type 

 used so much in school and vacant lot gardening, gives little 

 enough for the effort expended. It is too small for an active, en- 

 ergetic boy or girl. Moreover, the size is impractical. No suc- 

 cessful gardener attempts to grow vegetables in beds. We found, 

 too, that a better knowledge of gardening would be of great 

 service to the people of this region, for the rural people do little 

 gardening here. Every farm should have a garden, and 

 this should yield the farm home a constant supply of 

 ■fresh vegetables and fruits. Many city lots, too, could 

 support a large garden, the products of which would go a long 

 ways in keeping down the cost of living. The small garden bed 

 will not yield the necessary experience and instruction needed 

 in gardening on a larger scale. If children are instructed to 

 garden on a larger scale, they will get better ideas of- garden 

 handicraft, more practical and useful knowledge of the essential 

 principles of agriculture, and a larger, better experience. Our 

 idea is to. make everything as practical as can be, to give the 

 children knowledge and experience which they can actually use 

 and to stimulate them to use this. The country life problem 



