AMONG SCHOOL GARDENS 



times a fatal thing if one is barefoot. One little 

 gardener has paid for her carelessness with her 

 life. 



Weeders may be had at from 15 to 25 cents. 

 The first are often of cast iron and apt to break. 

 The small weeding forks are excellent and for little 

 children on tiny plots are a sort of universal tool. 

 Garden lines can be made by the boys. This set 

 of tools, hoe, rake, line and weeder, will cost at re- 

 tail from $1.00 to 1 1. 25 for each child. One might 

 also figure on a watering can (preferably with the 

 long spout and rose spray*) for each 10 children 

 where there are 50 or more working together, for all 

 would not need to use them at the same time, and 

 the garden hose could help out. Then, in addi- 

 tion, except for the grand days of preparation in 

 the spring and fall (when more could be borrowed) 

 only a few spades would be needed, one or two 

 spading forks and shovels, an occasional wheel- 

 barrow and a garden tape of steel. Other tools 

 and the use of those mentioned may be considered 

 later. After a garden is once equipped, the ex- 

 pense for repair of tools is slight, and both repair 

 and methods of sharpening should be a part of 

 the instruction among older children. 



To make an estimate, the surest way is to figure 

 on the cost apart from the instructor's salary. One 

 might say, *' I want so much money to start a gar- 

 den, and also, if we have paid teachers, a reasonable 

 salary such as any fairminded man or assembly of 



* See illustration opposite page 231. 

 122 



