TO THE TEACHER xiii 



The School Garden. Every school in which agriculture is taught must 

 of course have a garden, which ought to be large enough to give each 

 student sufficient ground so that its thorough cultivation will require 

 nearly half of the time he has for this study. This ground should be 

 typical of the land in the community. If the garden is put on much 

 better ground than most of that about it, the students may not learn so 

 well from their garden work how to work on other soil. The first thing 

 that must be provided for a school garden, after securing the land, is a 

 good fence. It does not pay to raise tomatoes and beans for pigs and 

 goats. It is usually a part of agriculture for men to keep their lands 

 fenced, and in school the students should do this work. 



The Student's Plot. The size of plot for each student must depend 

 upon the available land ; 5 meters by 2\ is a good size, but it is possi- 

 ble for a student to keep in proper cultivation a plot at least one half 

 larger than this. Rather than make the plots much smaller, let two 

 students be assigned to each ; for if the plots are too small, the distance 

 between the plants will fail to show the importance of space in garden- 

 ing. The paths between the plots may be 30 cm to 50 cm wide. 



Mapping the Plot. Each student should map his plot with the 

 utmost exactness, everything on the map being according to a fixed 

 scale. One to fifty is a good scale ; on this scale 2 cm on the map will 

 equal i meter on the garden. A larger scale is still better, if it does not 

 make the map too large for a page of the note-book. 



After the corners of his plot are marked and he has some ground 

 cultivated, the student should take a rule and measure off a fixed dis- 

 tance from each of the corners at one end, and mark this distance with 

 a small stake. The line connecting these stakes is parallel to the end 

 of the plot. If it is 20 cm from the end of the plot, it will be 4 mm 

 from the end of a map whose scale is one to fifty. If a row of plants is 

 put along this line, the plants should be <\\iJt't/y on it. Do not tolerate 

 inaccuracy in the measurement of the plot, in the notes, or in the maps. 

 Even the distance between individual plants should be fixed and exact, 

 and shown in proper proportion on the map. The map will not be 

 made all at once ; but as soon as part of the plot is planted, that part 

 will be drawn on the map. Along the sides of the map should be the 



