A PPM ND IX 449 



grown in the school-house. Even though the plants are not vig- 

 orous and do not reach their full development, they add greatly 

 to the interest and efficiency of plant -study. The desire of pu- 

 pils to see growing plants in the school -house and about the 

 premises has been forced 

 anew upon the author's at- 

 tention by responses to a 

 humble leaflet upon garden - 

 making which was distrib- 

 uted to public school teachers 

 by the College of Agriculture W" 

 of the Cornell University. 

 Even in crowded city schools 

 the leaflet bore fruit. The 

 following extracts from let- ^'°- **"• 



ters from Miss Lilian M. ^ meaningless plantation. 



Elliot, Pd.M., of New York 



City, illustrate how plants may be grown under great difficulties 

 (see also, "School Journal" for May 29, 1897): 



" I received your Nature-Study Leaflets. One of them, 'A Children's Garden, 

 especially interested me. Of course the paper had a twofold object, the cultivation 

 of the love of nature in the child, and the beautifying of the rural districts. The 

 pleasure that the child can get from this unconscious instruction is limitless, to say 

 nothing of the latent sesthetie side which is awakened. My first feeling was one of 

 disappointment that my poor boys — the majority of whom hail from the poorest and 

 most crowded of our city tenements— should be deprived of another birthright. 

 This idea of yours was so fascinating that I began to think and ponder, until gradually 

 my thoughts took material shape. This is the result: 



" Every boy was asked to bring a cigar box. This they could easily do, since both 

 parents of many of them are employed in cigar factories. The covers of the boxes were 

 useless. The boxes were about five inches wide. We took off one side and cut the 

 width to three inches, and then nailed the side on again. We now had a box 8x3x2 

 inches. The reason we had to make the bojc narrower was because our desks are so 

 constructed that the firm part which holds the pencils is only three inches wide. 

 It is upon this firm place that we put our boxes. The boys did all the measiiring 

 and cutting. The wood is soft, and a pen-knife is a sufficiently strong tool. They 

 then painted the boxes a uniform dark red, and filled them with earth. I bought 

 seeds of aster and sweet peas, as recommended, and allowed the boys to take 

 their choice. We soaked the seeds in warm water over night, and planted them 

 on Arbor Day ! They have so far succeeded beyond our most sanguine expecta- 

 tions, and although they are neglected from Fridays until Mondays, most of tht 

 plants have thrived remarkably well. 



" There are fifty -five boys in the class -, I have forty desks in the school. The 



DD 



