160 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



November, 191! 



A pumpkin 56 inches in 

 circumference raised by 

 the boy who holds it. 



to every four parts 

 of the garden soil. 

 Remember if this 

 soil is too rich and 

 heavy young 

 plants will not do 

 well. The sand 

 lightens and loos- 

 ens the soil and 

 helps in the drain- 

 age problem, too. 

 The fibre flower 

 pot saucer is most 

 satisfactory. It 

 does not soak 

 through and so 

 may be used on 

 desk or the best of 

 woodwork. These 

 saucers are of a 

 good color. 



In the matter of 

 watering plants as 

 many suggestions 

 are offered as there are people to make 

 suggestions. Water plants with water 

 the temperature of which is about that 

 of the room in which the plants live. 

 Too hot water weakens plants; too cold 

 chills them. If the atmosphere of the 

 room seems too dry keep an open dish of 

 water in the room. The constant eva- 

 poration of moisture from the exposed 

 surface is adding some water to the air of 

 the room. When the earth in a pot or 

 window box is dry then do the watering 

 and do it thoroughly. Constant applica- 

 tions of a little water at a time are bad. 

 Water thoroughly and then allow the soil 

 to dry out before the next watering. 



Stir the top soil of the potted plants 

 occasionally. Keep the pots themselves 

 clean. Wash off the leaves. Try to have 

 the children realize that conditions which 

 go toward making children clean and happy 

 do' similar things for plants. The care of 

 class-room plants is a duty for the children 

 and a lesson too. 



The Transformation of a Country 

 School 



FOUR years ago I left my work as 

 teacher in a high school and engaged 

 to teach the school at my home — a little 

 country school up among the hills of Ulster 

 County, N. Y. This school house is of the 

 "Little Red School House" type and was 

 placed upon a three-cornered piece of 

 ground, the most unattractive spot in the 

 district. 



About two weeks before school was to 

 open, I went down to look the situation 

 over a bit. I found the place as bare and 

 ugly as when I attended as a child. I 

 opened the door of the school house. There 

 were four bare walls — save for one lone 

 motto, which I well remembered. There 

 was not a desk in the room that did not 

 bear the marks of the boys' knives. The 

 floor boards were wide and between them 

 were large cracks filled with dust. 



I wondered why the bright healthy 



country children should have such sur- 

 roundings and the city children have all 

 the advantages. Two days later I returned 

 with a two horse load of things I had 

 gathered for that room. The most essential 

 things in the load were the plants for the 

 windows. 



On the first day of school about forty 

 children appeared. They were just plain 

 country children. They were pleased with 

 the changes in the room and began to 

 speak of things that they could bring to 

 help. 



By the end of the week we had brought 

 rakes and raked the yard. On the following 

 Monday the boys brought crowbars, 

 sledges, shovels and wheelbarrows and went 

 at the stones in earnest. We spent a good 

 share of our noons and recesses working 

 and by November we had a fairly smooth 

 yard. 



We continued along the same line of 

 work, fixed up the stone walls as best we 

 could and set out some cedar trees about 

 the outhouses. By this time winter com- 

 pelled us to stop work. Then the girls 

 scrubbed the desks but could not improve 

 them much except that they were several 

 shades fighter. Some child suggested that 

 they sandpaper them. The children 

 brought sandpaper, glass, rasps and planes. 

 We worked two weeks on the desks. At 

 the end of that time they looked like new 

 wood with nearly every mark obliterated. 

 I found that these boys and girls were, as 

 anxious to build up as they had been to 

 destroy. That spring we set out trees and 

 put out flowers along the fences. Nearly 

 all the cedars that we had planted in the 

 fall had died so we tried again. During 

 the summer the children labored faithfully 

 at their home gardens and the following fall 

 we had our "Garden and Flower Show." 

 We had an entertainment and that brought 

 the parents. From a grab bag we realized 

 ten dollars. This we used to help pay for 

 an organ we had brought at the beginning 

 of the school year. 



After that, I felt that I had begun to 

 walk on firmer ground. We had won two 

 prizes in the children's contest offered by 

 The Garden Magazine. In the winter 

 we gave another entertainment. With the 



The little old red school house with its new belfry 



proceeds we finished paying for the or- 

 gan and bought forty dollars' worth of 

 books. 



That spring, flower beds were made. 

 First, the boys dug down about two feet 

 along the east stone wall. Most of the 

 top soil was coal ashes. Then they rilled 

 in with black soil that one parent gave us. 

 Several such beds were made and flower 

 seeds put in. One man sent us a good load 

 of rotted manure. We set out a clump of 

 white birches, also blood root and ferns in 

 a shady corner. About the outbuildings 

 we planted vines. 



A good thing happened at the school 

 meeting. The people voted money to buy 

 a half acre of land on the east of our school 

 grounds. A "frolic" was made and the 

 parents and older boys came with teams 

 and hauled away those old stone walls, 

 then graded and seeded the ground. One 

 trustee had a neat stock fence put on the 

 south and east sides. 



All the fall of the third year the children 

 picked stones and worked on our new 

 ground. The boys dug a ditch in the lower 

 corner where it was always wet, and filled it 

 with stones. In the early winter we earned 

 money to buy a large bell and belfry for 

 the building. 



Some one may ask, how could all this be 

 done and school work not neglected? In 

 answer I may say that this work was not 

 done during school hours. 



On October 14, 191 1, we held our "Garden 

 and Flower Show." We had 150 house 

 plants potted, and sold them at the "Show" 

 and realized $23.00 from the sale. An 

 entertainment was given on the lawn and 

 the exhibit was held in the school room. 



New York F. M. M, 



Letters From Little Friends 



MY BULB is a hyacinth. I bought it 

 at school. First I planted it in a pot 

 and put it down cellar in the dark. About 

 February 1st, I took it upstairs and put it 

 on the window sill in the sun. I watered 

 it every day. I watched it every day till 

 by and by I saw a bud. It was a lavender 

 and white hyacinth, and so pretty. 



Evelyn Vinton. 



I Bought my bulb at school. All the 

 children who wanted to, bought bulbs. I 

 planted mine in a flower-pot with soil from 

 the garden. Then I put the flower-pot out 

 of doors in the garden. I covered the pot 

 with soil. February 1st, I took the pot up 

 and put it in a dark place for a week or so. 

 I watered it every morning. One day I 

 saw the buds; they were yellow! 



Helen Porter. 



I Planted four potatoes in eight hills. I 

 think they were about eighteen inches 

 apart. I did not put any fertilizer on, the 

 soil being rather good. The vines were 

 quite thrifty. I watered them during the 

 dry weather. From these I raised about 

 half a bushel. Several weighed half a 

 pound a piece. Russell Woods. 



