THE YOUNG FARMER’S ALMANAC 
185 
spot of splendid promise into a breeding place for pests 
and a tangle of weeds and old papers. It is an ugly sight ; 
surely no school can afford to countenance such a perversion 
of a good thing. 
A study of the summer problem, however, shows that while 
young people are somewhat scattered during the holidays, it 
is rather the exception when a family of children go away for 
the whole vacation. Some are off for a fortnight and some 
for not so long. Suppose the children to be urged on by a 
purpose all their ov/n, with a clear picture of what they wish 
to attain, and suppose they have the good luck to be near a 
good gardener, then there is a pretty good chance that the 
garden will hold its own. 
On the other hand, it may be that the garden has sprung 
up at the wave of a teacher’s magic wand, and that the 
children have, for the time being, caught by contagion a little 
of his enthusiasm ; in such a case, what wonder that when 
the personality of the leader fades, the garden goes to the 
weeds. A garden carried on for the teacher’s sake will be in 
no sense " a hardy garden ” ; this is because it has failed 
to touch the children’s real desires. It is possible, however, 
for a teacher to help children organize so that they can go a 
certain length of time by themselves. One teacher, her first 
year, succeeded so well that the girls, during her absence of 
ten weeks, conducted the work themselves, it being under- 
stood that each one who went away for a visit should furnish 
a capable alternate. 
In some towns garden work begun at the school, as a part 
of the regular school program, is continued during the holidays 
under the direction of a social settlement or a garden com- 
mittee. Even when the summer work is carried on under 
the most favorable auspices, a change in management is a 
drawback. The change, too, is bound to occur when the 
