school at Sleepy Eye have available what every other
school should have--five acres of tillable ground. This tract at Sleepy
Eye is devoted to tests and experimental work, to flower gardens and to
individual school gardens--one for each child who applies.

The experimental work and tests are carried on exactly as they would be
at a state experiment station. In the section of Minnesota surrounding
Sleepy Eye, corn is the great staple crop. Therefore on the
demonstration grounds of the Department of Agriculture, Independent
School District No. 24, Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, they are growing a number
of plots of corn, each plot variously planted, fertilized, cultivated,
and cared for, so that the children may learn at first-hand scientific
methods of discovering the best kinds of crop, and the best ways of
handling a crop in their own locality.

The allotment of the school gardens carried with it instruction in
engineering and in civics at the same time that the bonds between home
and school were cemented. The part of the school land that was to be
devoted to school gardens was turned over to the older boys, who
surveyed it in exactly the same way that the United States government
surveyed the homestead tracts. The plot was laid out in towns and
ranges. The sections were staked and numbered. Then the children who
wished to take up plots went into the newly surveyed territory, picked
their plots, and filed an application with the land commissioner for a
plot, stating the section, town and range. After that a line formed and
the plots (20x20 feet) were allotted. No child was permitted to take up
an allotment unless he had the endorsement of a parent or guardian. The
form on which this endorsement was secured was as follows:

Name____________________ Grade______________
_______ Sec____ Town__________ Range________

APPLICATION FOR LAND IN PUBLIC SCHOOL GARDEN, DEPT. OF AGR.,
SLEEPY EYE HIGH SCHOOL

"It is assumed that the parent or guardian who endorses this
application will co-operate with the school authorities and have
the applicant care for and weed said land during the growing
season, and devote at least two and a half hours each week this
summer to the agricultural work as may be directed or required
by the Director of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. Haw.

"I hereby apply for...... Sec...... Town....... Range...... in
the Public School Garden of Sleepy Eye High School