86 THE MA TURE-STUD Y REV1E W [2 : 3 -march, 1906 



about seven acres, lying in the midst of one of the worst tenement 

 districts of the city. In transforming this city waste she hoped to 

 transform the lives of the children of this district. From the day the 

 real work began the interest was intense. A three-foot high 

 fence, on which adults could lean comfortably and see everything hap- 

 pening in the garden, satisfied their curiosity, that strongest of 

 human traits. Every one realized that only the limited space 

 excluded many others from the delights of gardening, so that the 

 neighborhood was led to feel that it was "our farm." Courtesy, 

 justice, and pride in the work were stimulated to the utmost, and 

 proved most effective discipline. The only real punishment was ban- 

 ishment. This work of Mrs. Parsons is almost beyond belief. 

 The dumping ground of material refuse and the dumping ground of 

 refuse humanity became on the one hand a garden, on the other an 

 uplifted community. All of this was done with very little assistance 

 from the city, but this year (1905) $5000 were appropriated for 

 continuing the work. 



According to H. D. Hemenway (in " School-Garden Notes," The 

 Nature-Study Review, vol. I, p. 219) more than 100 cities and 

 towns in the United States have school-gardens connected with at 

 least part of their schools. 



My own experience is in common with the experience of all who 

 have engaged in this work. It does not stop with the school. Chil- 

 dren carry the interest home and change the most unpromising situa- 

 tions into places of beauty, but best of all this wholesome interest 

 reacts upon their lives, making them useful members of society. 



In addition to this general aim, childrens' gardens may contribute 

 in other ways to the school equipment. It furnishes the only practi- 

 cal means for handling nature-studies in a city. It makes the city 

 park, which is but an expression of human interest in nature, more of 

 an educational factor. It furnishes much of the illustrative material 

 otherwise given by charts and pictures. Indeed the amount expended 

 in these devices would in many instances maintain a school-garden. 

 California is especially fortunate in this particular. Almost every 

 product of commercial value that comes from the earth may be grown 

 here. 



In the rural school the aim is both social and economic. It is 

 social in the sense of creating wholesome interests in country life. 

 It is economic in the sense of stimulating activities along the line of 

 the actual business of the community. Somehow the impression has 



