160 THE NATURE STUDY COURSE. 



The executive powers are called out in devising, choosing 

 and executing means to ends that the child deems worth}-. 



On the moral side, the ideal garden inculcates system and 

 order, develops a sense of personal responsibility and apprecia- 

 tion of property produced by one's own effort, disposes to 

 manual exercise and leads to respect for honest toil and 

 toilers. A beautiful garden has a strong influence in the 

 right cultivation of the esthetic nature. 



In respect to manual skill and knowledge that will prove 

 useful in an agricultural country, it is worth something to 

 acquire the deft use of garden tools, and much to study 

 the science, as well as to learn the art, of the following 

 exercises : — 



Exercises for the School Garden. — Preparing the soil, — 

 digging, draining if necessary, fertilizing, making it mellow. 



Laying out the garden to scale on paper or black board ; 

 determining the use to be made of each part. Laying out the 

 plan on the ground. 



Procuring the seeds; testing the vitality of the seeds in 

 seed-testers ; germinating the tender kinds in pots or boxes. 



Planting seeds in the open ground and transplanting from 

 the seed-boxes. 



Care of the growing plants — thinning, weeding, hoeing, 

 watering, pruning. 



Studying the kinds and nature of weeds and methods of 

 eradicating them. 



Studying the beneficial and harmful insects and methods of 

 controlling the latter. 



Experimenting with the effects of cultivation upon wild- 

 plants. 



