Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-02-14
a. X. waldror.

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With this subject ] will commence
at the beginning, though in most
cases tho school houses are already
built. However, mor school houses
will be built in the future In this
state and for such my remarks may
not come in amiss. In the first place
a word as to the kind Of school house
from the standpoint Of architecture.
Tho country school houses in this
state and in fact in many states, are
plain and severe al:nos; to the last
extreme, 1t is really a rare exception
to find the school house built with any
apparent thought to beauty. In any
scheme of identifying the school
premises, the central and objective
point is the school Therefore, 1t re-
quires no argument to show that we
cannot secure the desired results, IT
we have to work with a plain and ugly
building as the centerpiece. 1t may
cost a little more to build a school
house having some regard for beauty,
hut in9many cases ! am sure this ele-
ment has never entered the heads OF
lllOSS WIN Hutlu ~ Oo NllA IL pAllN
ing. In many cases, If a good appear
ing building could have been put up
at the same price, in place Of the ugly
one that was put up, it is pretty safe
to assume that the ugly one would
still have been erected. The school
house to be beautiful need not be COW
, cred with dinky things. 1t can be
plain and dignitied and have elements
of beauty. With the aid OF someone
who has knowledge and experience,
the appearance Of the school house
! can be increased a hundredfold. With
! this increase, attention should also
be paid to light, sanitation, ventilation
| and other details that are now often
neglected.
Many Of the school houses in this
| state are placed on hills, and this, to
my mind, is a mistake. They should
be on the south slope or ever on the
| edge of a draw. provided that the
snow does not drift in heavily. The
| school yard should be located on a
! fertile area. The sterile soil could
! be purchased more cheaply, but suc:l
a cheap purchase is a dear one. The
school house should have an eastern
or southern frontage. | have seen
many school houses in the state front
ing west or north, when such front.
age vas quite unnecessary. ." d.
Extent Of School Ground.
In regard to the extent Of the school
| grounds, an acre should be the min
! imum amount and three to five is bet.
! ter. TO those Of us who are accus'
toned to school yards 4 rods by q
rods this may seem like an awful
waste of land, but really the small
school yard contains the wasted land,
while the large can be put to good
use. After the choice of the location,
or with school grounds already locat-
| ed, the ground should be broken deep
ly, except that portion reserved fox
a playground. Before blowing, the
ground should be well MANFRED. In
regard to the playground area, 1T may
be advisable to break this and reseed
to some Of our hardy tame grasses.
Many different kinds OF arrange
ments and paintings could be sug
gested, but in order to make this pa
per short, we will conine ourselves
to a study of one, which has been sug
gested by Prof. C. B. Waldron as be-
ing particularly applicable to this
state. With the school house facing
south, upon the north and west sides
of the school grounds, which we may
say measure 30 rods wide and "a rods
deep, thus covering about three acres,
should be planted to a shelter belt
deep enough to afford protection from
the wind and to prevent the snow
'from drifting much around the build
ings or onto the playground. This
shelter belt should measure at least
6 rods in width or 80 feet. This will
allow ~ rows of trees 8 feet apart.
The rows of such a shelter belt would
have a. total length Of AIS rods, in
round numbers.
Let us plant nine rows of this shell
ter belt to deciduous trees. We will
put in Seeding trees, preferably green
ash and Norway poplar. The number
of green ash and poplar required will
.