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1906] NATURE STUDY—NO. 32. 237 
open into the street; so the school house was moved 100 feet back 
from the road and the wood shed placed behind it; both were 
painted and modern desks were placed in the school room, 
These changed conditions made changes in the garden plan 
necessary, and an effort was made so to lay out the grounds that 
they might with advantage be copied by other rural schools in 
making the school environment a potent factor in promoting the 
refinement, courtesy and happiness of the pupils. 
The trees fringing the banks of a stream made a good back 
ground for the whole. As one enters the gate a straight path 
leads directly to the door. On the left is the main play ground 
clear of trees except in the corners and along the sides, while on 
the right is a smooth lawn with trees which in a few years will 
make it cool and shady. Beginning towards the road, a border 
runs along the fence to the back of the garden, now well filled 
with perennials brought by the pupils and donated by friends. 
Beds of annual flowers front the garden and border the school 
house. Immediately back of the flower border come the vegeta- 
ble plots, one for each pupil, while still farther in the rear area 
few experimental plots, a few young fruit trees and extra space 
for coarse growing vegetables. 
This arrangement provides a good open play ground, a 
pleasant bit of lawn anda garden convenient in size and design, 
the whole surrounding the school building so as to make an at- 
tractive picture. At avery small expenditure the school and its 
surroundings have been made cheerful and beautiful, in striking 
contrast to their former desolate condition. 
The flower plots are under the charge of the older girls, but 
all the pupils join in caring for them. During the past season, 
from May till October, there was not a week but saw some bloom 
to delight the young gardeners, and often large bunches of flow- 
ers were picked every day. Pansies were the first to come and 
the last to go. The crocus and tulip too were favorites on ac- 
count of their early flowering. Sweet alyssum, sweet peas, Phlox 
Drummondi, balsams, asters, verbenas, nasturtiums, poppies and 
sunflowers have proved the most satisfactory of the annuals. A 
