AMONG SCHOOL GARDENS 



mental but it will last for a term of years and has 

 the advantage that it can be set wholly or in part 

 by boy labor. All wire fences when festooned 

 with vines will lose much of their ugliness. A 

 serviceable light iron fence or one with iron posts 

 is desirable and is an excellent investment when 

 the garden site is sure to be permanent. Where 

 feasible, let the fence be low enough for the plants 

 to be easily seen, or even have a top bar for 

 people to comfortably lean upon while they watch 

 the garden. 



In regard to tools, in some localities children 

 can be asked at a pinch to furnish them from the 

 home supply, but this is usually unsatisfactory all 

 round. Good tools are expensive, and they must 

 be good whatever their size. For many gardens 

 it is better to get what is known in the trade as 

 ladies' size. They have shorter and slimmer 

 handles which make them easier for the children 

 to grasp. They are not altogether desirable where 

 big boys are working large size plots, but for the 

 average child from the sixth grade to the sixteenth 

 year cultivating a plot from 4x8 feet to 10 x 60 

 feet or even 10 x 100 feet they will do admirably. 

 There should be a few larger tools for general use. 



The ideal outfit is a hoe, rake, weeder and line 

 for each child, bearing his own number or name 

 and having its own place in toolhouse or shed or 

 nearby barn or cellar. (Every garden should 

 have its toolhouse even if it be only a chest or 

 box.) Hoe and rake should have five-foot handles 



120 



