CHAPTER XXIII 



WATER 



How the children can learn about water by watch- 

 ing it in the garden. In the lessons about making the 

 paths and about surface drainage, have the children 

 visit the garden either in a rain or immediately after it. 

 Let them notice the places where water flows and where 

 it stands in puddles, and after a few storms, they will 

 be able to see that the water in flowing over the sur- 

 face and down hill, has a great power of moving the 

 surface earth, also of sorting it out. By making a 

 pile of earth two or three feet high, and pouring 

 water upon it from a watering pot, or the hose, they 

 can make a miniature mountain stream, and will see 

 just how this sorting power of water acts. The finer 

 the particles of soil, the farther away they are carried. 

 The children will have an exact picture of how the 

 delta is formed at the mouth of a shallow river, and 

 of how serious floods can be on hillsides. 



After watching rains in the garden, and noticing 

 that puddles stand longer in some places than in 

 others, they can examine the soil and find tjiat where 

 the water stands, the ground is not so loose and open. 

 They will, in this way, learn the importance of the 

 fact, that water runs downhill always, and they can 



152 



