CHAPTER I 

 WHAT MAKES A SCHOOL GARDEN WORTH WHILE 



For Weakness in freedom grows stronger than Strength with a chain. 



SIDNEY LANIER 



A garden carried on in a home where desires and delights 

 are companions, not foes, seems the most natural thing in the 

 world. This is because the knowledge that springs from the 

 joy of such gardening is in its very essence real. But it re- 

 quires a good stretch of the imagination to set this cherished 

 pursuit fittingly in a sharply defined course of study. To tell 

 the truth, it has never been taken quite seriously; and while 

 excellent starts have been made and many have entered for 

 the race, nobody has as yet reached the goal. This goal in 

 children's gardening is the secret of making it yield to a 

 school program its entire and unique contribution. 



Nobody will, of course, deny that the garden has been 

 cordially welcomed as a pleasant accompaniment to various 

 educational projects. It offers, for instance, a kind of supple- 

 mentary manual training, besides a large and varied supply of 

 material for nature study. It is also, as we know, a powerful 

 magnet to attract children from the street. Notwithstanding 

 these recommendations, it has not, so far, on its own account 

 rendered a sufficiently distinct service to save it from the 

 odium of being classed with those last straws which a patient 

 curriculum is obliged to bear. The simple fact that the sacred 

 hours of schooltime are dealt out to gardening so grudgingly, 

 if at all, shows that it is still a sort of annex to the school 

 instead of an integral part of it. 



15 



