brennan] NA T URE-STUD Y AT VAN VLISSINGEN SCHOOL 23 



When summer came our troubles began. We had been allow- 

 ing the pupils ten per cent, commission on their sales, though 

 a number of children would not take the reward of their work, 

 as they wished all the money to go to the rooms. The teacher 

 acted as treasurer, if a pupil was not elected to serve. Each 

 teacher appointed a committee to care for her garden during 

 the vacation, to water and weed it, and sell the crop. The teach- 

 ers looked after things in this way; and they had the assistance 

 of two young ladies from the Home and Community Garden 

 Club of the Chicago Normal College. I wish to acknowledge the 

 good work Misses Olson and Johnson have done and to thank 

 them for their kindness. For two weeks every one concerned 

 was at work, but soon they began to scatter for the summer, or 

 in the case of the pupils to find work and drop out of the garden 

 work. Finally we had to offer a commission of twenty-five per- 

 cent, and that brought better results. We had two "weeding 

 bees" of teachers and pupils. The young ladies who were assisting 

 did faithful work, coming two and three times a week to help and 

 to direct sales. The school engineer, Mr. Vail, and his assistant 

 did some weeding and watering too. 



When school opened in September we found much to encourage 

 us as well as to discourage. The larger lot already mentioned 

 was on a busy corner; yet there was not so much stolen or de- 

 stroyed as we feared would be the case. Radishes and lettuce 

 suffered most. The smaller lot had been fenced in by our boys by 

 means of strips of wood and chicken wire sent out by the board of 

 education. We found that some teachers had succeeded in raising 

 two crops of radishes and of lettuce; and one teacher raised a 

 third crop by planting after school began, the long autumn favoring 

 that venture. 



Our total receipts amounted to thirty-two dollars, and we 

 spent four dollars for seeds, plants and commissions. Thus we 

 had a sum of twenty-eight dollars to divide among the different 

 rooms. We had used seed for the most part which we received 

 from Washington, D. C. For the reason that we worked in 

 competition with professional gardeners in the neighborhood, 

 it was not possible to sell everthing at times. Yet in many 

 cases the housekeepers seemed to prefer our goods, and we could 

 have sold more of certain kinds had we been able to raise 

 more. 



