AMONG SCHOOL GARDENS 



instruction in drawing, and in making garden 

 accessories in the manual training department. 



In the management of the garden and of the 

 necessary money, the class fund, garden club, 

 and parliamentary debate find a place. Here 

 the commercial basis is a natural one because as 

 the work is done by the children these diiferent 

 problems arise and their solution becomes of vital 

 importance to them. In connection with these, 

 the child's relation to his mates gives opportunity 

 for the study of ethical questions and for a well- 

 rounded development. School gardening is not 

 dragged into each school exercise of every day, 

 but for the few weeks in spring and fall of the 

 years in which it occurs it is made the center of 

 the school activities. 



The State Normal University at Normal, 

 Illinois, with its school garden of two and one- 

 y fourth acres, its 4 x lo foot plots, and areas for 

 field-crops, corn and fruits, conducts its work 

 somewhat difi*erently. The crops grown by the 

 children are not theirs. They are grown for the 

 nature study, art, or domestic science depart- 

 ments of the normal school. In the intermediate 

 grades the children are required to have home 

 gardens and to report their condition and bring 

 samples of their produce. In this way home and 

 school are connected. The use of the garden 

 grows with the child's development through the 

 eight grades. Here is one of the best illustra- 

 tions of the value of the school garden to enrich 



244 



