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GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 
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CHAPTER IX. GARDEN FOES AND GARDEN FRIENDS . 127 
The gardener a sponsor for his plants. Weeds have potential value. 
Cultivation of weeds and unfamiliar plants. Learn to know common 
weeds. Weeding with the hoe. Sterilizing soil not practical. A cheer- 
ful v/eeder. Fungus enemies : potato scab, bean rust, corn smut. 
Insect enemies. Food destroyed yearly by insects. Families should 
unite to exterminate them. Mouth parts. Chewing insects destroyed 
by poison ; sucking insects destroyed by emulsion. Recognize insects 
in various stages. The cabbage butterfly. Potato beetle. Hibernation. 
Stir soil, leaving it rough during winter. Habits of corn worm, cucumber 
beetle, rose beetle, cutworm. These insects afford material for nature 
study. Insect friends : lady beetle, tiger beetle, ichneumon fly, dragon 
fly. The toad. The earthworm. Children’s attitude toward worms. Our 
debt to birds. The gardener’s pledge. 
CHAPTER X. SIDE SHOWS 142 
Protecting the birds. Birds that will nest in boxes. Flickers in summer 
cottages. Bluebirds. Adaptation of bird houses to their occupants. 
Glass side gives chance for observation. Insulation of a martin box. 
Provision for drinking and bathing. A bird fountain in Worcester. 
Bees. An observation hive at a Boston school. Bees in London at 
the Nature Study Garden ; at an English home school. Poultry at the 
Hyannis Normal School. A rain gauge. How to measure rainfall. 
Woodworking and gardening. The sundial and its construction. 
Mottoes. Beauty a feature of children’s gardens. Arbor, pergola, 
summerhouse. Backyard possibilities. In Salem. In an English 
factory town. Increase in comfort and pleasure. 
CHAPTER XI. NEW LIFE IN OLD SUBJECTS 159 
Children not often prepared for the life immediately before them. Old 
education academic. School exercises to-day consist of two sorts : real 
activities and the acquiring of tools. Real activities increase in prepara- 
tion. Children’s compositions. Gardening vitalizes the school curricu- 
lum. The demands made by gardening include almost the entire school 
course in arithmetic. It develops the business sense. Garden subjects 
basis of real letters. Geography. The artistic sense; drawing. Good 
cooking encouraged by growing the foodstuffs. Nature-study material. 
Nature study is made less artificial. The beginnings of scientific inves- 
tigation. The nature-study teacher relieved of strain. Teacher and 
