SCHOOL GARDENS. 



449 



but in a secondary place. It was claimed with truth that teachers 

 who have beautiful flowers on their desks, and fine bits of color on 

 the walls of their rooms, were likely to have other matters in har- 

 mony, order, neatness, quietness, and an atmosphere conducive to 

 study. The flowers seem to set the key, and other matters are 

 tuned up to that pitch. Pupils appreciate the conditions and the 

 teacher. Unscholarly conduct is felt to be a discordant note, and 

 the sentiment of the class is against it. However, the committee 



Aster Cordifolius. George Putnam School Garden. 



had other and perhaps higher aims to accomplish. They wished 

 pupils to take a positive, conscious part in the development of 

 plant life. 



In accordance with the conditions mentioned, the committee de- 

 cided to start a garden where the circumstances seemed most favor- 

 able, and appropriated ten dollars for the purpose. A piece of 

 ground forty-eight by seventy-two feet in the back of the boys' yard 

 of the George Putnam Grammar School was found the most avail- 

 able, and a few teachers in the school offered all the assistance in 

 their power to carry out the purposes of the committee. 



The soil was such as one might expect to find where no thought 

 of plants or plant materials for a moment entered the minds of those 



