AMONG SCHOOL GARDENS 



For example, land rental might not have to be 

 considered or might be limited to paying taxes 

 where outright loans of the ground could not be 

 obtained. In some localities fertilizer, one of the 

 big expenses, might be contributed by one or 

 more persons as a gift or in preference to a cash 

 contribution. A fence, that other considerable 

 item, may already exist. There must be one. 

 Without it, respect for property and honesty will 

 be difficult to teach; impossible if outsiders be- 

 come vandals. In a crowded city, in a tiny 15x8 

 foot garden, the boys made their own picket fence 

 for the " Farmers' Club," so determined were those 

 school children at least to make a beginning. If a 

 fence already exists and is of solid boards, rip out 

 some of them so that the public may feel that they 

 are invited to watch the children. 



Again with reference to expenses, the needed 

 shelter and toolhouse* may be already provided. 



* "One of the most useful accessories to the school garden is the 

 garden shed, which is useful for storing tools and produce, and for 

 carrying on work not suited to the classroom, such as preparing 

 pickets and labels, analyzing soils, assorting seeds, arranging plants, 

 etc. The average cost of the garden sheds (in Canada) is about I75. 

 A popular plan is one 10 x 20 feet with an extension on one side about 

 5 feet wide, and finished as a greenhouse. This obviates the necessity 

 of having special hot-beds. The garden tools are disposed along the 

 walls of the shed in places numbered to accord with the numbering 

 of the pupils' plots. Along one side of each shed is a bench or table 

 of plain boards, about 18 inches wide, running close to the wall, 

 along which are several small windows giving abundant light to 

 pupils engaged in practical work." — Cowley, R. H.: The Macdonald 

 School Gardens. 



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