CHAPTER I 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCHOOL 

 GARDEN • 



"School gardens are not intended to create gardeners or farmers, 

 hut to aflFord the growing boy or girl an opportunity for many-sided 

 development." 



A SCHOOL garden may be defined as any 

 garden where children are taught to care 

 for flowers, or vegetables, or both, by one 

 who can, while teaching the life history of the 

 plants and of their friends and enemies, instil 

 in the children a love for outdoor work and such 

 knowledge of natural forces and their laws as shall 

 develop character and efficiency. 



To make it apparent that size is not a crucial 

 matter, a second definition may be that it "is any 

 garden in which a boy or girl of school age takes 

 an active interest. 1 1 may be a tiny seedling grow- 

 ing in a flowerpot indoors or an extensive series of 

 garden crops in a large garden outdoors. The gar- 

 dens may be collective or individual or both; they 

 may be at the school or the home or both. In all 

 these cases the plants to be grown are much the 

 same and the methods involved in growing them 



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