te independently. The
boys of Form II are able, with suitable garden tools, to do all the work
needed in the management of their own plots and may even be allowed to
do some of the harder work for the girls of their Form.

SEED SELECTION

Besides the usual work of weeding, cultivating, and harvesting of their
crops, the pupils should undertake some work in seed selection. This
work not only results in the improvement of the plants grown from year
to year, but also helps to train the pupils in painstaking observation
and the discerning of minute points of excellence. The ambition to
produce, by careful selection and thorough cultivation, a grain or
flower better than has been, is aroused, and, as the pupil's interest
increases, his love for the art increases and his efforts meet with
greater success.

The teacher should aim from the first to use only the best available
seed even if the cost be greater. He should send for a number of
catalogues and carefully choose those varieties of seeds that possess
evident merit for the purpose intended. In the case of flowers, the
pupils should be asked to decide what individual plants showed greatest
excellence, and these should be marked, and the seed from them
preserved for next season's planting. When the flower is in full bloom,
a small string tag should be tied to the flower stem (string tags can be
got from a local merchant). On this tag should be written in lead-pencil
the name of the species, the shade, and date of flowering. These flowers
should be left to ripen thoroughly, and then the seed picked and sealed
up in small envelopes, which the pupils should make as part of their
manual training work. The date on the tag should be transferred to the
seed envelope.

STORING SEEDS

All the envelopes should be collected, placed in a mouse-proof box, and
stored in a cool, dry place until time to plant in the spring. Small
bottles are excellent for holding seed and safer than envelopes. If such
selection is carried on systematically, it will result in an increase of
yield and of quality not to be equalled by even the best seed that the
markets have to offer. Thus the school garden may become the centre of
interest for the community. Seeds of good varieties can be distributed
to the ratepayers, and the standard of gardening and horticulture
raised. Here, as elsewhere, much--almost everything--depends upon the
teacher's interest and ability to lead as well as to instruct.

HA