358 
GARDENING FOR CHILDREN, 
cultivated among the mass. We, of course, 
make an exception as to those things which 
must bloom where they are sown ; but it would 
be unwise to see half-a-dozen youths sowing 
sweet-williams, columbines, wall-flowers, ten- 
week stocks, China asters, and other subjects 
of which one little patch would supply the 
whole. It is better to let each boy sow some 
one thing for general distribution, and thus 
increase the number of subjects without over- 
stocking anybody. 
We need hardly say that we should confine 
the gardening, in the first instance, to flowers, 
first, because it is more likely to gratify the 
young gai'deners ; secondly, because they are 
pretty sure to succeed more or less ; thirdly, 
because a much less plot of ground would 
be sufficient for each pupil, while the lessons 
aflbrded, and the experience to be gained, are 
equally valuable. 
The very first lesson will naturally be 
digging. The implements first required are 
a line strong enough to bear stretching very 
tight ; there are proper irons made to wind 
these lines on. The single spike of iron 
which has one end of the cord tied to it is 
thrust hard into the ground, and the winder 
on wliich the whole length of the line is wound 
is carried to the place where the other end of 
the line is to reach. When the right length 
is unwound, wind up, pulling close on the 
regular winder,but make a few turns round the 
spike itself, which has to be thrust into the 
ground, so that the line is quite tight ; so 
tight, that if it be moved three or four inches 
. one way or the other it will spring back into 
its place. The first use that will here be 
made of this line will be to mark out the 
piece of ground intended for the pupil, 
Avhich may be done various ways. The best 
of all methods of dividing these plots is by 
paths or alleys of not less than eighteen inches 
width, between each pupil's allotment. In 
this case the line is to be stretched at the 
edge of the path, and the edge chopped three 
or four inches down with a spade, (which 
should be the same depth as a man's spade, 
aut only half the width,) by standing in the 
path, and pressing the spade down three or 
four inches; then bending it back to loosen 
the soil in front of the spade, merely shovel 
it inwards. The tight line which is even 
with the surface of the ground shows where 
the spade is to be put down, and it will be 
necessary to show the youth how to begin, 
that he may not adopt a more troublesome 
or diffieult way than is necessary to accom- 
plish a very simple object. When you have 
shown him how to do it, by partly doing, and 
partly making him do half-a-dozen spades' 
width, he may be left to himself, except 
keeping an eye on all the pupils, to see that 
they do not get awkward. When the piece 
of ground is thus well defined, so that they 
see how much there is to dig, the path 
between two gardens will form a hard undis- 
turbed piece, cut down sloping on each side 
towards the allotments. The digging tlien 
may be begun. Gardeners can dig, and some 
can even draw drills, without lines ; but young 
ones must go by rule first, as the pupils at 
writing learn by lines ruled for them, though, 
after much practice, they write better with- 
out ; therefore, stretch the line across the 
bed, or if it be pretty wide across, only one- 
half of it, just one foot from the end, and let 
the pupil dig out a trench the depth of his 
spade and the foot wide, wheeling the stuff to 
the other side, if the trench be half across ; 
but to the other end altogether if it be all 
across, because this soil is to fill up the 
last trench when the digging is finished. 
When the trench is dug out let the line be 
placed further back, or, if you have time, 
chop a sort of mark for the pupil, a foot back- 
warder, and show him how to dig this out so 
as to fill up his first trench with the earth, 
and leave a second one empty. He need not 
dig back more than two or three inches at a 
time, because he would not have strength to 
lift the soil ; but it Avill be of great assistance 
to mark him a foot at a time, that he may not 
get materially out of line, and he should also 
be guarded or cautioned to keep the surface 
pretty level. If the bed has been divided into 
two, and the pupil has come to the end trench, 
he must begin the other half in the same way 
as he did tiie first, by making a trench a foot 
wide, and with the stuff fill up his end trench; 
but, if the whole of the bed has been dug at 
once, instead of dividing it, the end trench 
will have to be filled with the stuff wheeled 
away from the first trench at the beginning of 
the digging. Supposing it, however, to be 
divided, the pupil continues working the other 
half backwards towards the end he set out at ; 
and when he has made his last trench, he fills 
it up with the stuff he took out of the first, 
which is close to his work. Now in all this 
a youth can hardly go wrong if fairly started, 
and then he must be told why all this labour 
has been expended on his plot of ground. 
He should be told that the digging of the 
earth lets the atmospheric air into it, which 
is very beneficial to the roots of plants ; that 
it breaks the lumps, and lightens it so that 
the seeds can vegetate and send their roots 
into it freely ; and it so loosens it that the rains 
or artificial watering can soak into it, and pene-. 
trate every part, so as to nourish whatever may 
be depending on it for support. 
The next lesson to give a child is the use 
of the rake, the instrument with which the 
lumps on the surface left by the spade and the 
