74 GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



put boards on both sides and bottom, put clay in the cracks, and fill it 

 with dirt three quarters full and soak it with water ; then plant the seeds 

 and water it twice a day. 



The way it was carried out in the garden, we dug down two feet and 

 then we made a wall of stones and sidewalk bricks. We then filled the 

 cracks with clay. We mixed some clay with dirt and put it on the bottom. 

 We put some soil on top and then planted some seeds, etc. 



And so for weeks, in perfect seriousness, the record of 

 this experiment continues. Of course no crops of rice were 

 ever harvested. Silly, then, to try. Perhaps ; but more foolish 

 it would have been to discourage the growth of sturdy peren- 

 nials like initiative and concentration, particularly when these 

 spring up so spontaneously and are content to flourish in a 

 mudhole. 



The plotting of our garden may now be considered finished ; 

 and the planning, in the rough, is finished, too. Yet, in 

 a sense, planning has only just begun. It is, in truth, never 

 done. The fact is, the best kind of garden at home or school 

 grows somewhat after the fashion of a living organism. Fed 

 constantly by fresh ideas, it keeps building new tissue, as it 

 were, and adapting itself to new needs and conditions. It 

 must, for it is in the hands of young human creatures who 

 are growing fast themselves. 



Most upsetting, of course, such changes must be to the 

 mature mind, which demands not dissolving views, each 

 more entrancing than the last, but a finished picture in 

 March of what is to be realized in June. If exacted by some 

 person in authority, such perfection, however, can easily be 

 reached. It is only necessary to take the appropriate course. 

 This consists in proceeding very much as a real-estate owner 

 would proceed in building a block of houses. In such a case 

 it is expected that the plans, together with the specifications, 

 will simply be passed over to the contractor. 



