WHAT MAKES A SCHOOL GARDEN WORTH WHILE 31 
original departures which will contribute variety and possibly 
amusement. Yet whatever the garden may have lost in for- 
mality, it has infinitely gained in intrinsic interest from the 
point of view of any friend of children. 
As the summer advances there is always less deliberate 
planning and more manual work. But handicraft and nothing 
else is, of course, the work of a mere laborer, and spading 
and hoeing are not and never will be of themselves inspiring 
occupations ; so the garden is in danger of losing its highest 
value unless it can feed curiosity and awaken an appetite for 
investigation. A question met by an experiment, a doubt met 
with a demonstration, - — this is ever how men have been learn- 
ing from nature. Moreover, what they have thus really learned 
they want to tell. What greater incentive, indeed, can a stu- 
dent have than the opportunity of convincing his classmates 
of some fact that he has been working out experimentally 
Having at last got his answer, he almost bursts with a desire 
to share it. Sometimes it will happen that several will com- 
bine to present proofs for convincing the rest. Again, the 
whole class will form a team in order to make a bit of inves- 
tigation, each one doing his part toward a successful issue. 
This brings us to the most effective way of operating the 
gardeners’ forces. There has been much discussion as to 
whether a garden is best worked in common or divided into 
individual beds. Separate ownership of the various plots, as 
opposed to general or communal ownership, has many advo- 
cates. Certain it is that the individual plot fosters the feel- 
ing of proprietorship and personal responsibility ; it crowns 
with more or less justice individual fidelity. It is indeed very 
wholesome for any young person to gaze upon his own mis- 
takes and triumphs writ large, — spread out in plain terms of 
weeds or fruit. Many eloquent lessons can thus be driven 
home without a single comment. But disputes and jealousies 
