CHAPTER XVI 



SCHOOL GARDENS AND GEOGRAPHY 



Gardening of itself is of the greatest value 

 in the education of children, but it does not per- 

 form its complete function in the school unless 

 it has some organic connection with the other 

 work. It is nature study and illumines geogra- 

 phy. The soil is part of the earth's surface, de- 

 rived from the rocks — granite, sandstone, lime- 

 stone, marble, shales and slates, which form the 

 earth's crust. Children very early get the idea 

 of the great interdependencies of animals, vege- 

 tables and minerals and soon realize that plants 

 are the connecting link between the mineral and 

 the animal worlds. They should see in the rocks 

 great storehouses of energy which, unlocked by 

 nature's forces — extremes and changes of tem- 

 perature, water, atmospheric and organic agen- 

 cies — are all utilized by plants which form the 

 basis of animal life. 



The power of different soils to absorb and 

 retain heat and moisture; the relation of plants 

 to these varied conditions; the influence of the 

 sun upon plant growth — all this gives an experi- 



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