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GARDENING 

 YOUNG FOLKS 



CONDUCTED BY ELLEN EDDY SHAW 



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Geraniums in the Window Box 



THERE must be something to put in the window 

 box for the winter. Of course, the geranium 

 is the good old standby. If there are some nice, 

 small, stocky plants left in the garden from cuttings 

 that were made last spring, use them; but if only 

 old, straggly plants are available, it would be better 

 to take cuttings from them and put them in the 

 window boxes after they are well started. 



Why not have a " geranium-slipping bee? " After 

 the plants have been knocked out of 

 the pots, make a slip from each 

 branch of the plant from four to 

 six inches in length. Make the cut 

 slantwise across the stem and be- 

 tween two of the stem rings or nodes, 

 Then pick off, not cut, the leaves 

 except the two terminal, or end, 

 ones. Look between these two 

 leaves at the terminal bud; has it 

 color or is it quite green? If the 

 former, pick it off, or the little cut- 

 ting will expend its energy in bloom- 

 ing instead of making roots. Cau- 

 tion the children about making 

 the stem cuts; so often they are 

 carelessly made and the stem itself 

 is torn. This must not happen. 



Some authorities say that it is 

 far better to lay the cuttings on a 

 bench and let them dry out; others 

 believe in putting the cuttings at 

 once into sand. I often divide the 

 class and have some of the children 

 let their cuttings dry out over night 

 before planting; others start theirs 

 at once. 



If your school has no greenhouse, 

 use a box about four inches deep for 

 the sand bed, using a good sand, 

 such as builders use, for this pur- 

 pose. Wet it and place in it the 

 cuttings, putting one ring or node 

 below the surface of the soil. 

 Roots start at these nodes. Leave the cuttings in 

 the sand until they are well rooted. Do not keep 

 the sand too wet; geraniums will thrive on little 

 moisture. After the cuttings are rooted, pot them 

 into 2-inch pots, and later on shift to a larger 



size if necessary. By January the window box 

 will be filled with vigorous plants. 



For Shading Seedlings 



IT IS often a problem to know just how to 

 regulate the light in class rooms, so that young 

 seedlings grown in the window garden may be 

 screened from the intense sunlight and yet, at the 

 same time, not to deprive the students of their full 

 amount of necessarv light. 



Curtain that 



regulates light so that young seedlings may be 

 grown in this window 



Taking cuttings from old geranium plants that have been brought in from the garden. 

 Cuttings may be made at any time as a lesson in plant propagation, and the resulting 

 plants used in the spring for bedding 



At a rural school in Vermont, an interesting little 

 stunt has been tried out and found highly successful. 

 A curtain is made of cheesecloth, on a regular shade 

 roller, with a centre cord to raise and lower the 

 shade. This gives a diffused sunlight for the little 

 window plants which are placed on a shelf just below 

 the window sill, and does not make it too dark for 

 the children. 



For further details regarding the actual construc- 

 tion of this little curtain, we will be glad to have 

 you write to us. 



Blue Prints for Demonstrating 

 School Work 



I HAVE found in my own nature work with chil- 

 dren that one of the most effective ways to 

 illustrate a point is to use a blue print rather than 

 to have the children make free hand sketches. Blue 

 prints are easy to make and take very little time. 

 I give one demonstration lesson, and after that the 

 children make their prints by themselves at odd 

 moments. In this demonstration lesson I take up 

 the simple operation step by step, using first one 

 child and then another as an assistant. I never do 

 any of the actual work myself. 



Blue print paper; such as engineers use, may be 

 bought in two ways — in cans, already cut in cer- 

 tain sizes, and by the yard. If you get it in the 

 latter way, it must be cut in a dark room, as strong 

 light will spoil it. Have a printing frame, which 

 may be made in the manual training shop. A 

 frame, perhaps 10 x 15 inches, large enough to hold 

 a spray of flowers and leaves, is splendid. One 

 teacher used an old picture frame for the purpose, 



while another utilized a piece of glass, a bit of card- 

 board and two elastic bands. 



Put the specimen inside the frame next to the 

 glass. Over this put a piece of blue print paper 

 with the pale green side next to the specimen and 

 then place the back of the frame in place. Hold 

 the frame up to the light to print. Slowly the color 

 of the paper changes until it is a dull bronze. Then 

 take out the paper and put it, face down, in water. 

 The time required for printing depends entirely 

 upon the intensity of the sun's rays. If the wash 

 water becomes greenish in color, the 

 paper has not been printed long 

 enough. Wash for about twenty 

 minutes, then put the paper, again 

 face down, on a clean white blotter 

 to dry. 



Preparing for the 

 School Term 



WHEN school commences in 

 the fall, I always like to 

 have some green growing things in 

 the class room. There are certain 

 plants which, when brought into 

 such surroundings, behave them- 

 selves; others do not, and can- 

 not be made to. Last fall I had 

 quantities of good lobelia and sweet 

 alyssum plants outdoors as late as 

 October, some of which I took up, 

 cut back and used in hanging 

 baskets, either inexpensive wire 

 ones or home made rustic baskets. 

 A few cents' worth of sphagnum 

 moss from a near-by florist should 

 first line the basket; then fill it 

 with soil and put the plants in this. 

 One basket I filled entirely with 

 lobelia, another with sweet alyssum, 

 another with an asparagus fern. A 

 hanging basket looks better if it has 

 a trailing plant in it, one that will 

 hang down about the edges. You will be amazed to 

 notice how lobelia and sweet alyssum will grow 

 down over the sides of the baskets. Vinca, of 

 course, may be tucked about the edges of the 

 basket; Saxifraga sarmentosa is a delight for this 

 purpose. Its little shoots or runners will root 

 wherever they touch the soil. 



Besides planning for the baskets you will need 

 other plants for the window. Bring in from the 

 garden a few big ones, such as old geranium plants, 

 coleus, cigar plants, and begonias. You can take 

 cuttings from these later on. 



Making blueprints for nature study. Hold the printing 

 frame in the direct sunlight 



