110 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW (18:3— Mch., 1921 



FUNCTIONING THE SCHOOL GARDEN WITH THE HOME GARDEN 



H. C. Irish 



Supervisor of School Gardens, St. Louis, Mo. 



The school garden falls short of its mission if it fails to function 

 with the home garden. If it does not serve as a factor in increasing 

 the number of home gardens or in bringing about greater efficiency 

 in the home garden it has missed opportunities and not reached its 

 greatest usefulness. In other words, a well conducted school 

 garden is bound to increase the interest in home gardens and inspire 

 pupils to the utilisation of hitherto unused facilities for growing 

 ornamental and otherwise useful plants. This influence will also 

 reach out to other members of many households and the active 

 interest of adults secured. Parents will assist and encourage the 

 children and the latter will do much to help make a more profitable 

 as well as more orderly and more properly arranged home grounds. 



A pleasing presentation of garden matters in the school makes the 

 subject attractive and should result in raising the dignity of labor 

 and especially of the farm and garden work, which is too- often 

 looked down upon. No boy or girl should be overworked in his 

 garden duties, but each should have some particular part in the 

 preparation of the ground, planting of the seed and care of the 

 crop. Moreover, the inspiration of nimibers, where all of the 

 pupils in a room have a part in this school demonstration in a 

 measure forces an interest where there would be none if the child 

 attempted to work by himself. 



The garden work at school during school hoxurs must be so con- 

 ducted that pupils without home garden facilities may have equal 

 opportunities with others. Very few of them may be able, or even 

 wish to continue home or other outside garden work. Garden work 

 outside the school room becomes a specialized occupation. 



It is not the purpose here to give details of operations, but a 

 general example will best illustrate the beginning of a school demon- 

 stration that should lead to a better directed effort at home. It is 

 assumed that the school garden plot has been spaded or plowed by 

 other parties as this operation is too heavy for most pupils in the 

 elementary grades. A spaded or plowed plot of ground in the 

 rough, six or eight feet wide, by twenty-five feet long with a narrow 

 path through the long center, answers well for a demonstration 

 plot for an average schoolroom of forty pupils. The entire room 



