CHILDREN'S GARDENS 151 



so strange, when we learn that most of the plant is 

 made from air by sunlight. The strange part is that 

 so few people know it. Stranger than this is the fact 

 that with the knowledge so easy to obtain, human 

 nature refuses to acquire it, or to make use of the 

 knowledge when it is offered. We continue to kill 

 off the babies and the children, who otherwise might 

 make useful citizens, by surrounding them with con- 

 ditions where they are absolutely prohibited the proper 

 use of sunlight and fresh air. 



We crowd our plants so as to shut off sunlight and 

 fresh air, and they grow weak. They are pale. They 

 will not bear proper fruit. In such mistakes we 

 waste much of our time and energy, and grow poor. 

 We crowd our people and their children into homes 

 and streets where the air is filthy, where the sunlight 

 cannot enter. They live in such conditions. They 

 work in such conditions. Sickness, weakness, crime, 

 deformities and death come as a perfectly natural re- 

 sult. It may be because of ignorance, but it is surely 

 criminal ignorance. 



In the garden we learn clearly the needs of plants 

 for their best development, and through their lives 

 can be taught the human needs. 



