tables to show height, time of bloom, and other interesting 
qualities which determine the choice of a given shrub. For the 
practical outcome note that given under Project 3. 
Project 5: To plan a backyard garden . — This project should 
be given out in February. Plans must be drawn to scale. Dis- 
tance between plants should be carefully considered in order to 
avoid overcrowding. Choose the type of plant, which, in the 
choosing, will determine the best economic use of a given space. 
This project has been used constantly at the Brooklyn Botanic 
Garden by the boys and girls who have been in the garden more 
than two years. It involves, on their part, a good deal of study" 
and thought, so that, in general, crops of the same nature, such 
as two leaf crops, for example, may not come side by side. Plans 
should be approved by the supervisor or teacher, and the mistakes 
jotted down by the pupil as the season goes on. Such a project 
as this is very desirable to use in home garden work. Not all 
errors need be carefully culled out by the supervisor, for by T 
allowing a certain freedom in choice a child realizes the results of 
his original mistakes. There is no phase of the work so good as 
this to show boys and girls the results of poor judgment. If you 
plant a crop so that it overshadows another, thereby" developing 
an inferior product, the result of that mistake you see quite 
plainly. It stares you in the face all summer. It is better for a 
child to meet some such mistakes than simply to have them dis- 
cussed, revised, and corrected by the teacher. 
It might be of interest to state that a record of the value of 
the crop is kept, and that this present season there was taken 
from our children’s garden (about three-quarters of an acre) over 
$2000 worth of vegetables. It might be appropriate to say also 
that the money value of the garden, even viewed in the light of a 
project, seems of far less importance than does what we call the 
character value. Projects considered in terms of money alone 
are scarcely worth considering; although some educators place a 
large importance upon this money factor. 
There are endless projects like these which are constantly 
being used by 7 the older boys and girls at the Botanic Garden. 
They all work around the theme of gardening, which is but an 
application of one phase of the general subject called nature 
study. Because of the opportunities of such a place as the 
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, gardening has been chosen as a center 
of interest about which other subjects are grouped. These other 
phases of nature study" work out simply and naturally from the 
main center, and the moment any" phase of our chosen subject is 
forced or dragged in, it fails of its possibilities. The whole 
point of the work is then lost. Perhaps the greatest value of 
project work lies in the possibilities it opens up for the young 
mind, of development, of self-reliance, and vision; for the cpei ing 
up of avenues of interest in any" field of endeavor is an onward step 
in education, not only of the individual, but of the community. 
Ellen Eddy Shaw. 
The Leaflets are published weekly or biweekly from April to June, and 
October to November, inclusive, by The Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, 
N. Y. 
Telephone: 6173 Prospect. Mail address: Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Brooklyn, 
N. Y. 
