CHILDREN'S GARDENS 



accomplished. As was suggested in a recent 

 number of Park and Cemetery, school grounds 

 might be opened to the citizens as breathing 

 spots during the long summer vacations and 

 warm summer evenings, thus forming a stronger 

 bond of sympathy and interest between school 

 and parents. 



The greatest need as well as the greatest 

 opportunity is in village and rural districts. 

 And alas ! too often there is only bleakness and 

 barrenness. School directors seem to set apart 

 the poorest ground in the district for the school 

 yard; there are no flowers, and only some weak 

 grass and a few starved trees. Will nothing 

 grow! By a little effort these unattractive sur- 

 roundings could be made pleasant and beauti- 

 ful. Children should be led to study Nature's 

 method, and to examine her manner of planting 

 flowers beside the road, grouping trees and 

 shrubs along the fences, in the woods and upon 

 the banks of the streams. The wind, the birds 

 and squirrels, Nature's agents, have no regu- 

 larity in their seed-planting. Consequently the 

 irregular massing of her trees, shrubs and flow- 

 ers, and their struggle for existence produce 

 pleasing variety and effective results all the 

 year round. 



Some of the trees, plants and vines found 

 in field and wood can be so arranged as to 



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