m his introduction to my article of 1906:--

"The time must come when the child of rural environment must
find in the only school which ninety per cent will ever
attend, a training which will give it an intelligent
adjustment to its environment. With this adjustment, the
future work of the child cannot reasonably expect to escape
the state of drudgery. When a life's work degenerates into
this condition, then contentment with it, or happiness as a
result of it, becomes an idle dream. Can the accuracy of
this statement be questioned? If so, it would be a great
privilege for the writer to receive from some teacher a
letter setting forth the particulars in which he is wrong.

"Let all who are interested in the child from the country,
and every one should be, take this as a motto in this great
work before us: 'The country is entitled from its state and
from its county, to that consideration which will give him
every opportunity to secure an education as well suited to
his conditions, as is enjoyed by his city brothers and
sisters.'"

A CITY SCHOOL GARDEN

If a country boy were to hear his little city brother say, "Our class
has a garden and I have a share in the working of it," the country chap
would "non plus" him by quickly exclaiming, "What's that! I work in my
father's garden every year and know all about raising and gathering
vegetables."

But to the city child, who sees only cobblestones beneath his feet,
whose view is contracted by rows of dingy houses, or who plays on a lot
used both as a dump-pile and as a baseball ground, the privilege of
working in a garden plat is a great one and the products of its soil a
revelation.

[Illustration: WEEDING THE BEDS]

The aim here is to give an account of one season's work in such a
garden--a garden treasured by children whose only knowledge of
vegetable foods was that mother got them in the market.

Through the courtesy of the City Park Superintendent of Baltimore,
sections of ground in some of the parks are placed at the disposal of
the Board of Education for school gardens, and the privilege of
cultivating these gardens is granted to teachers in an adjacent
building.

It is of the section in Riverside Park that I am writing, and the
accompanying illustrations are pictures of this garden, taken at
various times through the season.

These sections are not in prominent plac