142 CHILDREN'S GARDENS 



suitable to them, and by experiments it can be shown 

 how much sun they need. If they do not have enough 

 they are pale. Shutting off the sun from some plants 

 takes away their health, so they are not able to properly 

 develop. Plants like the tomato, if grown in a place 

 where they cannot get enough sun, will not bear fruit. 

 These experiments prove that each different kind of 

 plant, animal, and insect life need special amounts of 

 sunlight to get their best development, and therefore 

 the garden must be so arranged as to give the plants 

 sufficient sunlight to obtain the best results. All the 

 leaves of plants have a green coloring matter (chlo- 

 rophyll), which is necessary for the plant to do the 

 work of combining the chemical elements. When the 

 light is taken away the leaves lose their green color, 

 and they are no longer able to live and work. 



Sunlight supplies the plant with water by making 

 the rain. Sunlight warms the soil. When it has 

 been determined how much sunshine a certain kind of 

 plant needs, it can then be decided how far apart to 

 place these plants so as not to shut off the sunlight. 

 Some sections of the country have more sunlight than 

 others, and this fact has made it possible for one 

 part of the country to produce a great proportion of 

 our Indian corn, which needs much sunlight. Scien- 

 tists tell us that almost all the work of the world is 

 done with power obtained from the sunlight. It 

 raises the water in clouds, and then makes the wind, 

 which blows these clouds inland, where rain falls and 

 produces moisture for the farm, the forest, and the 



