The Valentine Democrat. [volume] (Valentine, Cherry Co., Neb.) 1896-1898, 1897-08-26
neutrality-suspicious.
NOTES ABOUT SCHOOLS AND
THEIR MANAGEMENT
Efforts Should Be Made to Beaut;fy
the School Grounds-Estimates of
the Cost of London SchooIs-Tornado
Drills in Kansas School Rooms.
The School Grounds.

The School Grounds.
When grounds are properly leveled
and drained and freed from disagree
able Instructions, the first effort TO,
beautify them in every instance, should
be to erect the necessary closets and to
shield them from observation by q
thickly planted row or clump of ever
green's. Next, hard walks should be
made from the street to the different
doors of the building. and from them TO
the closets screened by the eyergreens.
When the school building stands a
short distance from the street these
walks may wind around oval plots
where flowers and shrubs may be
grown. In various parts of the grounds
beautiful trees may be planted. like the
maple, or the elm, or the oak. Between
these plots of ground, of whatever
FORM oval or otherwise. should be SOwn
seeds of the most beautiful and hardy
grasses adapted for lawns. so that
there will be formed smooth and
handsome turf. which must be often
rolled and carefully cut. In some shad-
ed corner native ferns should be plant
ed. and elsewhere some of the most
elegant native shrubs should find q
cherished home The suggestion of
State Superintendent Sabin. of Iowa is
worth adopting, ITO teach children the
kind of trees which flourish best in that
section; which of them are best for
timber; which for shade; and which for
fuel. Specimens of each will then be
found on the school grounds. and re-
ferred to for purposes of illustration.
In the same connection we must teach
how to plant and care for them, and
cultivate in each an honest respect for
a thriving growing tree
In the rear of the school buildings the
Fairgrounds should be located. where
trees also may be planted to afford
shade and pleasure, but not to interfere
with the sports of the children. If in
the planting Of trees in the grounds the
children are permitted to take part,
and name them, there will be a feeling
of interest and ownership in the trees
ON the part of the children which will
go far toward securing needed care for
them.
The plots devoted to flowers and
shrubs may have many varieties in the
passing years. The children often have
plants they would gladly place in the
school grounds for the summer. Others
have seeds which they would SOW, so
that each summer the ground would
disclose the taste Of the pupils as well
as of the teachers Different plots
might be assigned to different rooms or
classes of pupils, and 81 wholesome ri
vally excited as to which should be
most neatly kept. and show the great
est improvements in the summer. Great
variety might be given the grounds
from year to year By training hardy !
vines and creepers over the walls OF \
the building, and around the windows,
or by planting them beside arches and
trellises over which they would grow
The comparatively trifling expense
needful to make the required arches
and trellises would gladly be met by
the parents when once the children
proved their interest in such methods
of beautifying the grounds.-Educa-
tional Record.