INTRODUCTION 7 



Out-door Gardens 



Passing now to the out-door gardens, we come, of course, 

 to a field in which the range of possibilities varies with the 

 conditions of almost every school. It is true, however, that 

 even under the most adverse conditions some kind of collec- 

 tive garden at least is possible. If it is nothing more than 

 an outside window-box, it may easily become of important 

 service in the work of the school. In collective gardens short 

 rows or parts of longer rows may be planted by individual 

 pupils in connection with a plan for a complete whole, in 

 which the part done by each pupil shall serve as a unit. For 

 any gardens but the very smallest this will probably be found 

 a more satisfactory method than to have the collective garden 

 planted without distinguishing the part done by each pupil. 



The school which has an opportunity for each pupil to 

 have an individual garden is fortunate indeed. The size as 

 w r ell as the crops to be grown will depend, of course, upon 

 the conditions and the interest shown by the teacher and 

 pupils. Such crops may be planned for the entire season or 

 for only the early part of the season, and suggestions for the 

 special crops to be grown under these varying conditions will 

 be found in the later pages of this book. 



The final end of the school garden is the home garden. In 

 any community the success of the school garden movement 

 after it has been in operation for a number of years will prop- 

 erly be measured by its results in bringing about a general 

 love for flowers and plants, as shown by the gardens and 

 home grounds of the pupils that have been in attendance. 

 In the case of the home gardens the opportunities, of 

 course, are infinitely varied, but here again it will almost 



