T 1 UC 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS 



Vol. 2 OCTOBER, 1906 No. 7 



SCHOOL-GARDENS IN THE REFUGEE CAMPS OF SAN 



FRANCISCO 



BY BERTHA CHAPMAN 

 Supervisor of Nature-Study, Oak;and, Cal. 



[Editorial Note. — There are many cases of school gardens having been very 

 successful under conditions which seemed unpromising, but certainly there have 

 been none which in unfavorable conditions might be compared with those which 

 in the past summer have existed in the refugee camps of the Pacific Coast city 

 where those made homeless by the great earthquake disaster are temporarily 

 being sheltered. The newspapers have from time to time mentioned the schools 

 for the children in these camps, but no one would have expected that Principal 

 Armstrong would find it possible to develop school-gardening. In many schools 

 in other places officials are waiting for a very propitious time in which to make 

 a start with gardening. Mr. Armstrong has set a good example by beginning 

 under the most unfavorable conditions which could be imagined. 



This work in the refugee camps is laying the foundation for a movement 

 towards a permanent garden system in the new San Francisco which the archi- 

 tects are planning. Notes concerning later developments will be published in 

 The Review.] 



Out beyond the long line of tents in Golden Gate Park, where 

 thousands of the refugees from the San Francisco fire are temporarily 

 finding shelter, I found the cluster of tents where hundreds of the 

 children of the poor are enjoying going to school. I say enjoying 

 advisedly, for as I walked along the path-way I saw many small groups 

 of children sitting under the trees studying diligently and from the 

 wide spreading tents came the murmur of small voices. Youngsters 

 with big round eyes sat listening to one teacher tell the ever-interesting 

 tale of the Three Bears. The great big bowl for the great big father 

 bear, and the smaller bowl for the mother bear, and the tiny wee bowl 

 for the baby bear, must not be interrupted so I passed on by the tent 

 where the children were struggling with the number of marbles that 



