FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS. 



No. 9. 



Leaflet 



On Nature Study. 



Especially Adapted to the Use of Children :n Schools 

 IN Rural Districts. 



PREPARED BY THE 



FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY. 



A COUNTRY SCHOOL GARDEN. - 



By Prof. Stanley Coulter. 



Have you ever thought how much of your time is spent at school? 

 Suppose you take a pencil and work it out. Seven months, or twenty- 

 eight weeks, or one hundred and forty days. And you are there just 

 about eight hours each day. Do you not think you would work better 

 and be happier if the school yard and school room were made pretty 

 and attractive? I know you would, for I have watched children at 

 work for many years, and know just how much cheerful surroundings 

 help them. 



What kind of school yard have you? I have seen hundreds of 

 schools in the country, and nearly as many in towns, where the 

 school yard was so bare and ugly that I wondered how either the 

 teacher or scholars could possibly do good work. Now, if your school 

 3-ard is of this sort, suppose, when school opens, you all join together 

 to make it more pleasant. Of course you will want plenty of room in 

 which to play, and that part you need only keep free from litter and 

 rubbish. Then, of course, you must have walks, so that there is only 

 left the odd corners of the school yard for you to care for; and it is 

 about these odd corners that I want to talk. But, before I do, I want 

 to say something about walks. I visited a school not long ago where 

 iliere, was no sign of a walk, and had xo wade through the mud to 

 icach the front door. Of course, I carried a good deal of mud into 

 tlie school room, and it dried on the floor and soon became dust, which 



