vi GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



PAGE 



CHAPTER III. SITUATION AND SOIL 45 



The school garden a form of outdoor laboratory. Size and site rela- 

 tively unimportant. Window gardens in Boston. The ideal situation. 

 Sunshine a necessity. Adaptation of the school yard. Use of the 

 vacant lot. Park lands. Transfer of classes. Transformation of one 

 school yard. Fence or no fence. Soil testing. Treatment of the land. 

 Enrichment by manure, guano, ashes, prepared dressings, and street 

 sweepings. Skimming the land. Green manure. Inoculating cow- 

 peas with nitrogen bacteria. The compost heap, Garden economies. 



CHAPTER IV. PLOTTING AND PLANNING 61 



Waste no space. Plotting done with care and deliberation. Plotting 

 and planning the business of pupils, not teachers. Practice in arith- 

 metic. Contrivances simplify measuring. Plan drawn to scale. The 

 kitchen garden; flowers, experimental beds, cold frame. Children 

 cannot plan as far ahead as elders. Arrangement of flowering plants. 

 Arrangement of vegetable beds. Visit to a model market garden. 

 School gardening must not be merely an imitation of a market garden. 

 Arrangement adapted. Self-organized work for groups. False ideas in 

 arrangement. Reactions to the responsibility of planting and plotting. 

 Experimental beds develop scientific interest. Some schoolboys plan 

 to raise rice. Plotting and planning a garden is good discipline. 



CHAPTER V. A WORD FOR GOOD TOOLS 76 



A clamshell for a tool. Need of the right implements. A visit to 

 an agricultural supply house. History of agriculture told by tools. 

 Three generic tools. A simple outfit. Cost. Cooperative ownership 

 of expensive tools. Avoid cheap tools. Care of tools and tool house. 

 Inspection made by the children. Woodworking tools a valuable 

 supplement to a garden outfit. Suitable dress. 



CHAPTER VI. PLANTING 82 



Idle land claimed by weeds. The planting season lasts the year round. 

 Three periods : early, midsummer, and late. Plant nourishment. Crop 

 rotation as opposed to the one-crop system. Foods supplied at dif- 

 ferent depths. Shifting crops. Kinds of crops : catch crops, cover 

 crops, green manure. Devices in planting. Quality of seed. W T here 

 to buy. How to recognize good seeds. A simple rule for testing 



