CHAPTER XXV 



The Garden Site 



If you know of any successful gardens in your town, it will 

 be worth your while to study their position. Do the same 

 with the school garden. Of each one ask yourself the ques- 

 tions : has it sun ? is its location attractive ? At the same 

 time ask yourself : which of these two factors is the more 

 important? Again, which is more important to the plants, 

 and which more important to you? 



With a vegetable garden there can be no question. The 

 greatest beauties of such a garden are neatness, regularity, 

 and a vigorous growth of the plants. Neatness and regular- 

 ity can be secured anywhere ; but plant growth depends so 

 largely upon the sun that the vegetable garden should 

 always, when possible, be entirely free from shade. 



With the home flower garden the problem is different. Some 

 flowers — for example, the lily-of-the-valley — do best when 

 they have shade for a part of the day. Others, like the pansy, 

 seem to do as well in partial shade as in full sun. Again, the 

 flower garden looks better when set against some background, 

 such as trees or shrubs, which cast a shade. And, finally, I 

 am a little inclined to think that flower gardeners themselves 

 like a little shade now and then better than do vegetable 

 gardeners. I do not know whether the fact that growing 

 vegetables means working for profit, while growing flowers 

 means working for pleasure, makes this difference; yet in 



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