salton] spring da Y IN CHILDREN'S GREENHO USE 187 



The older playroom group followed at once. They watered 

 their pots of blooming hyacinth with warm water. Almost all 

 had planted seeds before and remembered the important things 

 about planting. Each two children were allowed to take a flat, 

 find the material for drainage, and put the soil into their flat. 

 Greater attention was paid to putting the drainage in and why we 

 did it and to the soil, what it was made of. But every one is so 

 anxious to plant that those questions can only be brief reviews. 

 They, made their rows as straight as possible. They planted 

 their seeds and marked their flats with their names. When 

 watered and placed away in the sunny room their work for the day 

 was over. 



The third group which for the day was girls from nine to twelve 

 years of age came next. To-day they watered their pots and 

 cleaned their plants. Because our greenhouse is in a very smoky 

 location near factories and railroads, we are obliged to wash the 

 leaves of our plants once each week, and dust off the cinder almost 

 every day. Water was warmed and each two girls took a large 

 pan of it, a piece of soft cloth or sponge, and a piece of whale oil 

 soap. The leaves of the aspidistra were washed and then wiped 

 dry, then fresh water was used in washing a Kentia palm. The 

 materials were then cleaned and put to dry while the girls spent 

 the remainder of the time in naming the bulbs which were in 

 blossom. Numbers were placed on ten pots of flowers and slips 

 of paper with ten blank spaces were given the girls. Each wrote 

 the name of as many of the plants as possible. Most of this group 

 could name all the blossoming bulb plants correctly. We only 

 grow the common varieties of the hyacinths, tulips, crocus, the 

 paper white narcissus and the yellow narcissus. 



While the girls are working at this the older group of girls 

 arrive and join them in identifying flowers. They have five more 

 plants added to their number. In a number of cases the older 

 girls are able to add the variety, as King of the Blue or Gertrude 

 pink hyacinth. The younger girls finish their papers and leaving 

 the older girls at work on theirs, we go to the workroom to com- 

 pare the lists and correct any mistakes a girl has made. Their 

 work for the day is over and they leave the greenhouse. 



When the older girls have finished their identification work they 

 compare their papers. They see that all the plants have been 

 watered and add water if any is needed. They remove any plant 



