School Gardening | by W. Francis Rankine
Gardening is the oldest and at the same time the most interesting industry in existence. It offers pleasure to all and profit to many ; there is a pleasure in the beauty of the flowers that may be grown ; there is a great profit in the health-giving exercises it affords us, and in the knowledge that the observant gardener acquires in the course of his work.
| Title | School Gardening |
| Author | W. Francis Rankine |
| Publisher | Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd |
| Year | 1920 |
| Copyright | 1920, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd |
| Amazon | School Gardening |
Introduction- In the curriculum of the rural, the provincial, or even the urban school, there is no more delightful subject than that which is treated of in the following pages. It is a subject that introduces the ...
- Chapter I. The Soil
- Gardening is the oldest and at the same time the most interesting industry in existence. It offers pleasure to all and profit to many ; there is a pleasure in the beauty of the flowers that may be gro...
- Chapter II. Soil Cultivation. Digging
- The object of all digging operations is to enable the forces of nature to carry on their work to the greatest extent; at the same time weeds are cleared from the garden. The digging of loams and clays...
- Bastard Or False Trenching
- The object of trenching is to move the soil to a greater depth than can be done in digging. When it is done efficiently the depth will be two feet or three feet compared with the one foot of good digg...
- Chapter III. Garden Tools
- IN all gardens it is necessary to have sufficient, strongly made tools ; each implement is designed especially for the work it is intended to perform. It is also essential that the tools shall be kept...
- Chapter IV. The School Garden. Arrangement And Cropping
- The general arrangement of the school garden is naturally influenced by the peculiarities of the size, shape, surface, and aspect of the garden site. It is impossible to offer hard and fast rules for ...
- The School Garden. Arrangement And Cropping. Continued
- Successions In cultivating and cropping of all gardens it is necessary to consider three important points. Firstly, a succession of crops must be secured so that a continuous yield of produce is ob...
- Chapter V. Manures
- The continuous growing of crops naturally results in the exhaustion of the soil; day by day each plant is assimilating food from the soil, and at the end of the year the garden is deficient in active ...
- Natural Manures
- These are widely employed, and the best known form consists of farmyard manure or the refuse of the stable. This manure contains nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash in such a state that they are easi...
- Artificial Manures
- The question of artificial manures is of great interest and illustrates how completely scientific knowledge is brought to the gardener's assistance. It will be observed that natural manure contains pl...
- Chapter VI. Germination And Seed Sowing
- Germination is the first stage in the development of the plant from the seed ; this development is only possible under certain fixed conditions, viz., air, warmth, and moisture. It should be observed ...
- Chapter VII. Green Vegetables
- Cabbage, Savoy, Borecole, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Coleworts Green vegetables are among the most important of garden produce. They are sufficiently hardy to provide a continuous yield of crop...
- Broccoli And Cauliflower
- These two vegetables are very similar in form and habit of growth. Broccoli is a hardy vegetable, and it is obtained in successions for winter and spring use by making sowings from March to May. It de...
- Pests Of The Cabbage Family And Their Treatment
- Among the pests that attack the members of the Cabbage family the best known are the Gall Weevil, Club Root (Finger and Toe, Anbury), and the Large White Butterfly. The Weevil and Club Root attack the...
- Lettuce, Spinach
- In addition to the members of the Cabbage family there are two other important green vegetables, viz., Lettuce and Spinach. Lettuce is an important salad, and Spinach is a valuable vegetable. Lettu...
- Chapter VIII. Pod-Bearing Vegetables. Peas And Beans
- THE pod-bearing vegetables are more highly esteemed than any others of the general garden crops with the possible exception of Asparagus. This is due to the fact that they are very palatable as well a...
- Chapter IX. Tap-Rooted Vegetables
- Beet, Carrots, Parsnips, Turnips, Radishes THESE vegetables are generally referred to as the root crops, and the term, to a certain extent, is a correct one. In the case of Beet, Carrots, and P...
- Beet
- Soil which has been freshly manured is not suited to this vegetable, and an endeavour must be made to sow the seeds in a fine soil that has been thoroughly cultivated during the previous season. Coars...
- Carrots
- Carrots demand, as in the case of Beet, a thoroughly worked soil, and it is not sufficient to perform this operation just before sowing. The ground should be selected for the carrot bed in autumn or e...
- Turnips
- This crop may be sown from March to July. It prefers a shaded station, and on account of this fact, it may be grown between Peas and Beans. Drills are drawn one inch deep and one foot apart, and in th...
- Radishes
- This crop provides a favourite salad, and although it is of comparatively small growth, it must be grown on well-worked soil. The most important consideration is rapidity of growth, for delicacy of fl...
- Chapter X. The Potato
- THE Potato is the most important crop of the vegetable garden, and successful growing demands careful culture and thorough soil cultivation. The introduction of the plant into the gardens of England i...
- Diseases And Their Remedies Of Potatoes
- The diseases that attack the Potato are mainly fungoid in character, yet much damage can be wrought in the Potato plot by the Wireworm. However, the treatment of insect pests is a very different matte...
- Wireworm
- This pest terminates the long list of troubles to which the tuber is heir. Remedy here is more certain, and in a short time the gardener can rid the soil of a large number of these grubs. The Wireworm...
- Chapter XI. Bulbous-Rooted Vegetables
- Onions, Leeks, Shallots THE members of this group of vegetables flourish in richly manured and deep soil. With attention to these details the bulbous-rooted crops are easily grown. The Onion ...
- Chapter XII. Miscellaneous Crops
- THE preceding chapters deal with the main groups of vegetables that are suitable for school garden plots, yet there are others which may be introduced either to the plot or the nursery bed. For instan...
- Rhubarb
- The space demanded by this plant, combined with its exhaustive results on the soil, makes it almost impossible to bring the vegetable into the individual plot. However, on large plots it is possible t...
- Cucumbers
- Of course, Ridge Cucumbers alone are possible for the school garden, and these are only recommended for those plots that are favourably located. The young plants are raised similarly to marrows, un...
- Tomatoes
- In large plots, viz., one rod plots, space should be found for one Tomato plant, or failing this a row of plants may be grown against a south wall or fence. Obtain the plants in June, or if a frame is...
- Celery
- Celery is a useful and health-giving salad, and wherever possible it should be included in the cropping of the school plots. However, it is out of the question if the plots are small and must only be ...
- Chapter XIII. Fruit Culture. The Fruit Plot
- Wherever possible, a fruit plot should be established in the school garden, in fact, no system of school garden teaching can be considered complete if no provision is made for elementary training in f...
- Chapter XIV. Suitable Fruits
- THE selection of fruits will naturally depend on the size of the plot, and it is not surprising in the case of small-sized plots that the larger forms of trees must be omitted. In some instances the b...
- Chapter XV. Fruit Tree Planting
- CORRECT planting is the first step towards success in fruit culture. There are many people who regard planting as an absurdly easy operation, yet it must be stated in justification that few of these h...
- Chapter XVI. Small Fruit. Currants, Gooseberries
- CURRANTS and Gooseberries are known as bush or small fruits, and although Raspberries are borne on canes and not on bushes, it is better for the sake of easy classification to extend the term ...
- Gooseberries
- Gooseberries have a strong tendency to form thick, impenetratable bushes, and once this state is reached, the grower is face to face with trouble. Under such conditions a heavy crop of small fruit res...
- Raspberries
- Pruning detail is not required in the culture of Raspberries, and all that is necessary is close attention to the annual thinning of the stools, and the feeding of the roots. After the crop has been ...
- Strawberries
- This fruit demands a deep rich soil, and such conditions are best secured on a good sound loam. The plants are placed at distances apart varying from two feet to two feet and a half and should be surr...
- Chapter XVII. Apples, Pears, And Plums
- Apples Bush Apples are the best form of tree for the school fruit plot. They are not out of reach when the scholars are at work, and the principles of management, after the foundation has been laid...
- Pears
- This fruit offers less difficulty, since the yield is borne on the old wood, and pruning is carried out in order to remove the young shoots. As in Apples, this operation may be executed in two stages....
- Plums
- The directions already given in reference to preparing the soil, manuring, and planting, must be carefully followed out in the culture of stone fruits. Plums, however,. differ in habit of growth and f...
- Chapter XVIII. Grafting And Budding
- GAFTING and Budding are methods of propagating fruit trees, and the simple process of grafting, with the not at all difficult operation of budding, must be introduced into the scheme of work on the sc...
- Budding
- This operation is carried out in July or August, and provides a means of improving fruit trees and roses by bud insertion. Practice in budding may be well demonstrated in the case of the brier. Strong...
- Chapter XIX. Flowers
- AT present the culture of flowers in the school garden is, generally speaking, in its infancy; yet undoubtedly, with the widening of this important branch of school work, flowers will receive the atte...
- Glossary
- Annuals These are plants which develop from seed, flower, and produce seed in one year ; in other words they complete their life history in one season, e.g., Peas and Broad Beans. Aphis This ...
