University of California Los Angeles - Bruin Life / Southern Campus Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

Page 33 text:

Penetration by roots is an exceedingly important end aided by deep spading. To be sure, those rapid-growing and virile plants we call weeds will grow in the most forbidding soil and wedge their roots into the forbidding hardpan; but our cultivated plants have had their energies directed into other channels, such as the pro- duction of more succulent, more richh ' flavored, or more perfectly formed plant parts, or the production of their desirable parts in greater abundance. They need a little bit of coaxing, especially in their early life. They have responded to cultivation by improve- ment of their qualities. Without the cultivation the quality suffers or even the plant itself succumbs. In tree planting, a hard substratum may even require a blast of giant powder to make root penetration possible. Part of the orange growing land of a neighboring town is underlaid by decomposed granite, which in some ca.ses approaches to within a few feet of the surface. Ten-year-old trees in excellent condition and fruitage are growing in such regions where blasts were required to shatter the substratum before planting. The spading also affords opportunity for the working in of various ingredients which are desirable in modifying the character of the soil. The soil on the grounds of this school is a putty-like adobe — an almost hopeless soil for children ' s work, unless modified by the addition of other substances. A dozen loads of sand, half as man}- of stable manure and a great quantity of lime were worked into the plot during the early winter. The result is a fairh ' satis- factory- soil. All these ingredients tend to overcome the stickiness of the adobe: the sand and straw by purely mechanical means; the lime by means of a peculiar coagulative effect which it has upon clay. Of course, the character of the soil must determine what dress- ing is to be applied, and the materia medica of soil treatment is too extensive for a leaflet of this sort. In general, adobe soil is quite rich, but needs loosening ingredients. I oose soils are sometimes too pervious to moisture and dn - out too rapidly, or else allow sol- uble plant food to leach out. The latter defect calls for enrichment. The former can be overcome in large measure by the addition of humus which retains moisture most tenaciously. A single treat- ment combining both qualities is the addition of an abundance of coarse barnyard manure. This treatment is to be recommended for the ' school garden, since plant foods are not so abundant as to make the danger of overfeeding the soil very great, while the abun- dance of decaying straw retains moisture and warms and mellows the soil in most efficient manner. The further advantages are gained in that the children see the particles of organic matter in the soil in their work of soil examination, and those little soil culti- vators, the earth worms, are attracted to the garden by the abun- dant organic matter. By whom is all this work to be done ? A most pertinent question indeed, and one of the hardest to solve in some cases. Some outside help will probably be needed where the ground requires the more laborious treatment. A day ' s work b} ' a good strong man with a

Page 32 text:

we have recently learned, are of such vital importance in determin- ing the richness of the soil. The little helpers, the bacteria, reduce their activity or lie dormant as the air supply is exhausted. An aeration of the soil revives their energies and provides for their numerical increase. The roots of plants spread out under ground in many cases to greater distances than do the branches above it. Roots breathe just as truly as we do, although, to be sure, less ac- tively. Entire exclusion of air from the soil smothers the plant. For these reasons, not only breaking the sod, but later and frequent tillage is advantageous. The importance of the admission of water into the lower strata of the soil cannot be too strongl}- emphasized. In California, the sunshine of which we are justly so proud, becomes a menace to plant and animal life. Our schools are, of course, located where water is accessible, but there are many reasons why, in school gar- dening, we should be careful to make the best use of the water furnished during the rainy season. First, teach the economy of water. In the great areas where water is so scarce the problem of water supply is the ruling question in the establishment of a new community or of an agricultural enter- prise. Such a matter should not be neglected in a community like ours. Children should be trained to handle the soil in such a waj- as to allow the least possible loss by evaporation. Second, the actual difficulties in the way of irrigating. Children of the lower grades are often furnished with little sprinkling pots which they are to fill at a central supply and carry to their own plats for irrigating their small crops. The result is too often muddy clothing and wet shoes for the child and an equally unhygienic con- dition for the plants. For the arduous task of carrying water soon exhausts the child; and the plants have too little water. Again, the water is showered upon the delicate plants till they are beaten down into the earth, the top soil becomes mud while the roots of the plant remain dry. A hard crust forms over the top as the earth dries, and the seedlings are clod bound ; a maximum of harm with a min- imum of good. If the school garden be in need of water, let it be furnished by the gardener on Saturday evening and given in adequate amount. B} ' Monda} morning the soil will be in good condition for the top mulch by the children. We desire them to conserve the natural soil moisture. First let us get it down out of the reach of the dry- ing effect of sun and air. This penetration is made more complete by deep spading. Even the freest soil will show a tendenc}- to be- come packed at the surface into a layer that sheds a large percent- age of the rain water where it falls at all rapidly. Some soils, indeed, become almost impervious to water. Often a water puddle that has stood in a slight depression for many daj ' S may be drained away into the lower soil strata by spading a few holes in the bottom of the depression. Water is not lost by thus penetrating the soil, for roots will seek it out if they are permitted; and by capillarity the moisture is drawn back toward the surface as this dries out.

Page 34 text:

pick and spade will break a good deal of sod. A load or two of manure nia}- often be had gratis about the city, where stablemen are sometimes glad of a place to dump such refuse. Sand in large quantities costs a varying price, but small quantities may be ob- tained from the cement gutters after heavy rains, or from stream beds, if such be near the school. Have the children do all this work possible. A little diplomatic skill on the part of the teacher will turn into useful channels the abundance of play energy potential in her room full of children. The large country schoolyard where my own sixth grade studies were mastered, was cleaned up and made respectable by the army of the juvenile citizen body working during recess periods for the com- mon gain, though each individual was as jealous of his liberty at playtime as any older person is of his civil guarantee of freedom. As we saw it at that time, the teacher was working with us. In retrospect, she appears as a diplomat of uncommon ability. lyCt the children draw in the sand, too. If necessar}-, place a high premium on the commodity, and see how assiduously it is sought for. It may be brought it in boxes or cans. I have seen it brought in paper bags, and even in the youngster ' s hat, though the latter is more commendable for its spirit than for its neatness. Make the end desirable, and if it be possible it will be attained. In all cases, whether the w ork be done by the children or not, careful record should be kept of the soil treatment, and the children given to understand, as far as their age permits, the reason for the various steps taken. If not before apportioned, the garden plot which, it is now sup- posed, will be in proper condition for planting, should be surveyed, subdivided, and allotted to the children in small sub-sections. A child can readily cultivate a strip two feet in width, if accessible from one side. The ground at the Normal School is divided into plots 30 feet long by 4 feet wide, separated by paths 1% feet in width. A line down the center of each bed then divides it into 2 -foot strips, which are worked from the paths along one side of each strip. Each child of the lower grades is given 3 feet of the strip for his allotment, so that he has a farm of six square feet, all his own for the season, and therein he plants seed which shall bring forth fruit after its kind according to his effort or care, the reward for which shallbe all his own. Stimulate this feeling of proprietorship. Have him stake off his property and establish boundary lines with his neighbors. The great quantity of small stones and chips of plaster in our Training School garden were most decidedly in the way until we began to build stone fences about our farms as our New England forefathers had to do. Have the children do the surveying where possible. Among older pupils, the entire responsibility ma} ' be assumed by the citi- zens, and the teacher, mereh ' one of them, acting as a final court of appeal. In these little farms the farmer should reign as nearly- supreme