viii GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



PAGE 



CHAPTER IX. GARDEN FOES AND GARDEN FRIENDS 127 



The gardener a sponsor for his plants. Weeds have potential value. 

 Cultivation of weeds and unfamiliar plants. Learn to know common 

 weeds. Weeding with the hoe. Sterilizing soil not practical. A cheer- 

 ful weeder. Fungus enemies : potato scab, bean rust, corn smut. 

 Insect enemies. Food destroyed yearly by insects. Families should 

 unite to exterminate them. Mouth parts. Chewing insects destroyed 

 by poison ; sucking insects destroyed by emulsion. Recognize insects 

 in various stages. The cabbage butterfly. Potato beetle. Hibernation. 

 Stir soil, leaving it rough during winter. Habits of corn worm, cucumber 

 beetle, rose beetle, cutworm. These insects afford material for nature 

 study. Insect friends : lady beetle, tiger beetle, ichneumon fly, dragon 

 fly. The toad. The earthworm. Children's attitude toward worms. Our 

 debt to birds. The gardener's pledge. 



CHAPTER X. SIDE SHOWS .... 142 



Protecting the birds. Birds that will nest in boxes. Flickers in summer 

 cottages. Bluebirds. Adaptation of bird houses to their occupants. 

 Glass side gives chance for observation. Insulation of a martin box. 

 Provision for drinking and bathing. A bird fountain in Worcester. 

 Bees. An observation hive at a Boston school. Bees in London at 

 the Nature Study Garden ; at an English home school. Poultry at the 

 Hyannis Normal School. A rain gauge. How to measure rainfall. 

 Woodworking and gardening. The sundial and its construction. 

 Mottoes. Beauty a feature of children's gardens. Arbor, pergola, 

 summerhouse. Backyard possibilities. In Salem. In an English 

 factory town. Increase in comfort and pleasure. 



CHAPTER XL NEW LIFE IN OLD SUBJECTS . . . 159 



Children not often prepared for the life immediately before them. Old 

 education .academic. School exercises to-day consist of two sorts : real 

 activities and the acquiring of tools. Real activities increase in prepara- 

 tion. Children's compositions. Gardening vitalizes the school curricu- 

 lum. The demands made by gardening include almost the entire school 

 course in arithmetic. It develops the business sense. Garden subjects 

 basis of real letters. Geography. The artistic sense ; drawing. Good 

 cooking encouraged by growing the foodstuffs. Nature-study material. 

 Nature study is made less artificial. The beginnings of scientific inves- 

 tigation. The nature-study teacher relieved of strain. Teacher and 



