wished for a peep at the tiny plant.

"In which soil did the plant appear?"

Another look was taken and answer given that the plant came from the
mixed soil.

The second plant to appear came from the bed of coarse loam; the one
in the pot of fine loam came third; and last the one in the sand
struggled to a small shoot, then died of starvation.

After this the life of one plant was studied. Thus slowly and
cautiously the study of seed germination was made, the teacher getting
all from the child possible, and aiming to have him cull his
information from the plant before his eyes.

Now that we were familiar with the facts concerning soil composition
and seed germination, we felt prepared to take up the outside work.

Between the first and the fifteenth of April our first visit to the
garden was made. The ground was so saturated with water that it was
impossible to think of working it in that condition. After taking a
view of the surroundings we discovered that the plat was on low ground
and that the water from the rising slopes at the back ran down and
settled upon it.

The question which naturally arose was, "How may this water be gotten
rid of?" A short talk on drainage solved this problem. The children
decided that ditches, ten feet apart, should be dug crosswise in the
garden. They were dug, and, as the weather was favorable, in a week's
time the soil was in condition to be worked.

Meanwhile interest did not flag, though it was impossible to accomplish
any outside work. Writing letters to an imaginary hardware dealer,
stating what tools we needed and inquiring the price, became an
all-absorbing exercise. Next, we turned dealers ourselves and rendered
itemized bills and receipts to purchasers of garden materials. In this
way two forms of letter-writing were taught and the children derived
both pleasure and profit from the work.

In the construction period were made the labels they would need when
the planting-time came. These were cut from small pieces of wood with
penknives and marked ready for use.

A plan by which to landscape this same plat had been drawn the year
before by the supervisor of our city school gardens. This plan
suggested a talk on landscape gardening and intense interest was at
once aroused. The talk developed such questions as these:--

"Is the plan before us a good one?"

"Can we improve on it?"

"Is there any waste space which we should utilize?"

"Is the plan artistic in its ar