CHILDREN'S GARDENS 205 



to handle, is most interesting. Even the children who 

 have never had a plot, and are impatiently waiting 

 for their opportunity, think they know just how the 

 things should be done. Their interest is so great, that 

 they cannot restrain themselves from giving advice 

 when they see some little farmer, new to the work, 

 making a mistake. A stranger might deem this dis- 

 order, but it is not intended as such. An additional 

 excitement is caused by those whose names have been 

 omitted, fearing that they will not receive a plot. As 

 soon as all claims have been satisfied and the seeds 

 are actually in the ground, this seeming disorder dis- 

 appears. 



WEATHER CONDITIONS. 



During the first planting, the weather was most 

 propitious and everything went very smoothly. The 

 prolonged heated term and drought, which obtained 

 throughout the country, made it necessary for the 

 " Little Farmers " to give extra care in watering and 

 tending to their plants, but this heated term proved 

 more than ever the incalculable benefit not only to 

 children and babies, but to adults of such a garden 

 with its cool, shady, vine-covered summer-house (con- 

 taining hammocks in which the babes could be placed, 

 so relieving the tired arms of the little mothers and 

 fathers) and its awnings and tents, amidst beautiful 

 flower beds, where the weak and suffering child and 

 discouraged mother could find rest and refreshment in 

 the still beauty. 



