50 
GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 
permission can generally be obtained to take up the pavement. 
Bricks are not such sacred things, and they weigh as nothing 
in the balance with education. In case, however, any worthy 
city fathers are inclined to hesitate, it may be remembered 
that no voices in the community can be lifted in a more 
stirring appeal than the children’s own, provided they have 
really set their hearts on having a garden. 
It is not to be denied that the ebb tide of opportunity has 
positively been reached when gardeners are reduced to "farm- 
ing it ’’ on top of concrete. Thrifty little plots, it is true, have 
sometimes been so constructed, and a promoter of garden 
interests would not, of course, discourage even these. But 
with such handicaps the prospect from the agricultural stand- 
point is harcjy^^good. Nevertheless it is claimed that the 
market gardeners in the environs of Paris, famous the world 
over for their skill, could successfully grow identical crops 
above an asphalt pavement. This is news to cheer any 
downcast heart. 
As soon as a community has once been really converted 
to the idea of children’s gardening, however, many an open 
lot can be found which the owners will gladly turn over, at 
least temporarily, to this public cause. Instances multiply to 
show how frequently in the outlying sections of cities and 
in the suburbs vacant land has been gratuitously offered for 
school-gardening purposes. The nearer such a lot lies to the 
school building, of course, the better. In a congested city 
district it is often the custom to get permission to use some 
tract of park land. The disadvantages of distance have been 
largely overcome by arranging that the school children shall 
go over to the park for their lessons, during the last half 
hour of a session, on two. days in the week. In a park there 
is frequently some sort of shelter near at hand, where chil- 
dren can keep their tools. 
