fore,
that every teacher should encourage his pupils to cultivate plants and,
if possible, to own a plot of ground however small.

The teacher should not merely aim at _making_ a garden in the school
grounds. The great question is rather how best to use a school garden in
connection with the training of boys and girls. To learn to do garden
work well is indeed worth while and provides a highly beneficial kind of
manual training. To understand something of soils and methods of
cultivation, of fertilizers and drainage, the best kinds of flowers,
vegetables, fruits, and farm crops, and how to grow them successfully,
is very important in such a great agricultural country as this; but the
greatest of all results which we may hope to realize in connection with
school gardening is the ennobling of life and character. The pupils are
taught to observe the growing plants with great care, noting
developments day by day. This adds to their appreciation of the beauties
and adaptations found among plants on every side, and cannot fail to
produce good results in moral as well as in mental development. The
teachers must always remember that the gardeners with whom they are
working are more important than the gardens which they cultivate.

The best garden is not always the largest and most elaborate one. It is
rather the garden that both teacher and pupils have been most deeply
interested in. It is the garden in which they have experienced most
pleasure and profit that makes them want to have another better than the
last. No school is too small to have a garden of some kind, and no
garden is too small to become the joy and pride of some boy or girl.

SUGGESTIONS

For the benefit of teachers beginning their duties on the first of
September, in school sections where school gardening has never been
carried on, the following suggestions are offered:

1. See if the grounds will permit of a part being used for a garden. To
ascertain this, note the size of the present grounds and see if they
meet the requirements of the Department as laid down in the Regulations.
If they do not, consult your Inspector at once and acquaint him with
your plans. If the grounds are to be enlarged, try to take in sufficient
land of good quality to make a good garden. The part chosen for the
garden should be both convenient and safe. Examine the soil to see if it
is well drained and sufficiently deep to permit of good cultivation.
Lack of fertility can be overc