COLLEGE ^ 



AGRICULTURE 

 Berkeley. Cal. 



JUNIOR AGRICULTURIST SUPPLEMENT 



A Teacher's Supplement Issued to Further 

 Agricultural Teaching in EJementary Schools 



Vol. L January, 1917. No. 2 



SCHOOL GARDENS. 



Every idea seeks expression. And just so far as the idea is given 

 expression, just so far as the idea is set to work has it an educational value. 



To acquaint children with nature and her activities, to give boys and girls 

 ideas regarding plants and animals without growing or working with them is 

 a waste of time largely. 



As an average thing February is the ideal plant growing month. The soil 

 is awakening and teeming with life, for the soil now a reservoir for water, 

 air and food is becoming warm. Do not let this month slip by without 

 starting a few plants with the children. 



The school garden has many reasons for being: 



1. The children grow plants correctly and successfully under the guidance 

 of the teacher. They learn how to prepare a .seed bed properly; how to 

 plant seeds; how to thin plants; how to irrigate, etc. (Note: For informa- 

 tion, see seed catalogues — The Principles of Agriculture Through the School 

 and the Home Garden, and other texts.) 



2. All the boys and girls are interested since they work together in com- 

 panionship. 



3. Social values are determined. It is a good thing for children to learn 

 early that there are tools, land, water, seeds to share in common; that com- 

 munity property belongs to all and not to one alone; that the rights of 

 others, the right of the neighbor must be considered. Boys and girls learn 

 that the world does not begin and end with them. 



4. If the school garden is worth attempting it is worthy to take a dignified 

 place on the program. And by the way. all children should take part. 

 Gardening is very beneficial to all and can hurt no one. 



Grammar and geography arc beneficial, a wise educational system has 

 decided. If you believe in the school garden and you have the support of 

 your patrons, why demand these subjects of all children and put the growinj^ 

 <•! plants and animals on the basis of choice? 



A period in the garden breaks the monotony of desks, books, chalk. 

 Recently we sat quietly in a chihl's desk for thirty minutes. We do not 

 wonder that boys and girls grow restless. 



5. The growing child particularly needs exercise, outside air, play. He 

 gets all of these and more in the garden. Gardening is play with a definite 

 educational trend. 



6. The school garden is a miniature world, all of nature's forces 

 work. Insects, birds, earthworms, moles, gophers are busy working out men 

 life history. xJIeat, light, and other forces are taking expression. The school 

 garden is coritinually oflfering experiences to vitalize the other subjects in 

 the curriculum. Arithmetic, geography, art, and the like may be given new 

 direction. Figure Xo. I dji(grammatically pictures this thought of correlation. 



7. An interest in planfs and animals developed or fostered at school is 

 invariably: carried into the homes. '')tir experience in ten years with school 

 gardens shQTv^ that from 65 to 75 of the children who have gardens 

 at school cTuplicatc them at home. 



The above are values that are particular to the school garden and are not 

 proposed as arguments for the teaching of agriculture in elementary schools. 



