EVERY CHILD SHOULD HAVE A GARDEN 



THE child and the garden belong together; to separate them is to deprive the former of one of his choicest 

 heritages. Take your five-year-old boy outdoors and let him dig up a corner of the garden and put in some 

 flower or vegetable seeds: you'll be surprised at the pleasure for both of you. If you can do no more, have a 

 window box or some indoor pots for the youngster to grow flowers in. You owe it to him. There is hardly 

 anything more important in a child's training, for body and mind and temperament, than this chance to assist 

 Nature in her daily miracles. While the hands are busy in the use of the trowel, hoe and rake, the eyes are being 

 trained to see what is happening about him, the green things growing, the insects and birds, all as busy and happy 

 as he is. His ears unconsciously learn to associate the robin with his call notes. Every nerve is stimulated and 

 trained to sensitive appreciation of the world full of things that the average person never sees, nor hears. While 

 the elders are guiding the children, their own interest is more deeply roused in the very things they are trying to 

 teach. A wider grasp of the scheme of things in Nature, a broader horizon, opens to child and man, for each is 

 teacher to the other, without fully realizing it. 



The main crop in gardening is not vegetables and flowers. If those crops fail the first year, the great crop is health, 

 gained in the open air, and the fellowship and partnership of children with their parents. 



We 've been trying, ever since this magazine started, to get this great subject properly before our readers. Now 

 for the first time we feel we have an adequate plan, which we start in this issue, and which will in future be a 

 regular feature. 



Miss Ellen E. Shaw, who has been working out these problems as a teacher in classrooms and school 

 gardens, has prepared a simple and most comprehensive scheme which every parent and teacher should 

 read and act on. 



The first article is on the following page, and the series will cover these general lines of work: 



i. Garden Work Generally. — In which will be more beautiful surroundings to homes everywhere. More 

 given, from time to time, simple directions for planting planting of flowers in yards, better kept lawns, and gen- 



and for planning school grounds and home gardens; it 

 will also deal with tools and how to 

 use them; with the qualities and 

 characters of various soils and their 

 improvement, with occasional refer- 

 ences to the most common garden 

 pests. 



2. Children's Competitions. — 

 This feature will aim to excite a 

 spirit of emulation among the chil- 

 dren of The Garden Magazine 

 family readers by encouraging the 

 planting of some of the most 

 easily grown bulbs, flowers, and veg- 

 etables, with a view to training the 

 children to judge by results and to 



select high-quality types. A system of score cards will 

 be introduced and suitable prizes may be awarded by 

 the publishers. By this means, through window garden- 

 ing indoors, the interest of the children may be main- 

 tained after the outdoor season closes. 



3. General Improvement. — Working through the 

 individual child, much can be accomplished in making 



eral brightening up of neglected spots where plants can 

 be made to grow. This work will be 

 largely accomplished through direct 

 advice rendered to individual appli- 

 cants. 



4. Construction and Labor- 

 saving Devices. — By fostering the 

 desire of the child to busy himself 

 with tools and appliances, he may 

 be encouraged to construct window 

 boxes, plant stands, frames, to make 

 envelopes for seeds, plant labels, etc., 

 awards being rendered for the most 

 skilful work. 



5. Historic and Esthetic. — 

 Herein lies the ultimate goal — the 



development of more gardens and the brightening and 

 beautifying of the lawn spaces that already exist around 

 so many suburban homes. By a training and develop- 

 ment of the esthetic sense more perfect color schemes, 

 better compositions, and greater pictures will be pro- 

 duced through the medium of the interchange of thought 

 offered in the columns of this department. 



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