o<l MONTHLY. I> 
xxr. 
COLOMBO, SEPTEMBER 2nd, 1901. 
No. 3. 
SCHOOL, BUNGALOW, AND REST- 
HOUSE GARDENS, AND SOME 
HINTS ON HOW TO PLANT 
THEM. 
(Circular, Roi/al Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, 
SeriiS l.—No. 22, July 1901.) 
HE general scheme for the work- 
ing of school gardens, as has 
been set forth elsewhere, is to 
have small gardens at the 
schools, worked by the personal 
labour of the masters, and 
scholars, who may divide two- 
thirds of the produce between 
them, and to give the scholars simple lessons 
in "Nature Study," using as objects of study 
the simpler operations of the garden, and the innu- 
merable natural objects and phenomena around them. 
In providing these gardens with plants, the object 
to be kept in view is to provide only the beat varieties 
of each kind, so far as possible. There is no great 
variety of plants in most of our villages ; what is 
cultivated in the school gardens will gradually diffuse 
into the neighbourhood ; hence it should be the best 
possible of its kind. In the second place.the village 
teacher is not qualified to teach agriculture, nor to 
criticise intelligently the agricultural operations of 
the district : he must carefully avoid trying to grow 
the staple crops of the neighbourhood, lest he fail- 
as ha probably will— to do as well aa the villagers 
and thus bring himself into ridicule- Hence the 
school garden must cultivate in general things not 
common in the district. 
Every child in the school should help in the 
garden, and if possible grow a few plants him or 
herself. We want all the children to learn some- 
tiling about plants, to grow them as well as they 
can, and to come to love them. The school gardea 
and perhaps more especially that part that is worked 
by the joint labour of masters and scholars, will 
of course contain many useful plants, but we do 
not want the children to look upon all cultivation 
for the sake simply of the rupees it may bring in 
and ornamental plants should be grown also. There 
are other interests in life than mere money-making. 
The child who grows up to love nature, and the 
beauty of natural objects and phenomena, and to 
observe what goes on around him, will live a happier 
life than the one who gives himself up from the 
first to the consideration of monetary gain ; in the 
long run, too, he will probably be the richer in 
actual money, and he will be less liable to spend 
his earnings on coarse and expensive pleasures. 
Let, then, the school garden, in addition to the 
useful plants in the narrower sense, cultivate aa 
many as possible of the ornamental. Let it be laid 
oat as beautifully as possible with the means at 
disposal. Let masters and scholars take a pride in 
the prettiness of their garden. An attractive school 
garden will be a great benefit to the neighbourhood 
in many ways ; it will make school more attractive to 
the scholars, will promote in them good taste and a 
love of natural beauty, and will stimulate tha 
neighbours to do likewise. 
The remarks made below apply equally to rest' 
house or private bungalow gardens. Parents should 
encourage their children to work in the garden and 
take an intelligent interest in it and in the plants 
growing in it. 
The first point to be borne in mind is that the 
beauty of a garden depends, not on the particula*^ 
plants it may contain, but mainly on the skill with 
which it is laid out, its natural advantages further 
improved and emphasised, and its defects lessened 
or cgucealed. The worl^-£amona beauty of the 
