OUR EXPERIENCE WITH A SCHOOL-GARDEN 



By M. A. BIGELOW 



Teachers College, Columbia University 



Eight years ago, Miss Elizabeth Carse, then supervisor of 

 nature-study in the Horace Mann School of Teachers College and 

 now principal of a private school in New York City, laid out a 

 small school-garden (about 14 by 60 feet) on a lot adjoining 

 Teachers College. Two years later the purchase of more land 

 made it possible to add a second plot of 80 by 100 feet. Four 

 years ago we added a third plot of 90 by 1 20 feet and built a very 

 plain greenhouse, 18 by 40 feet. Now the erection of a new 

 building has taken away the third plot and we must again be con- 

 tent with the first and second plots. These, too, will probably be 

 required for a building before many more years pass. 



The conditions in the Horace Mann School have never been 

 ideal for a typical school-garden. The school year omits June 

 and September, the great months for making gardens and for 

 garden studies. The pupils are not in the city in the summer and 

 so most of them plant seeds in May and next see their gardens late 

 in September. Thirty or forty pupils who attend a summer ses- 

 sion of the Speyer School are able to make good use of the garden 

 in midsummer, both planting for themselves and helping culti- 

 vate plots planted by other classes in May. Throughout the 

 year we have a gardener, who does the greater part of the work in 

 caring for the garden. 



The following points have been most interesting to those who 

 have observed the work in our garden : 



1. Obviously the usual claims for value in garden work do not 

 apply to pupils who do not see their gardens between seed-sowing 

 and harvest. Nevertheless we have felt convinced that the work 

 of planting teaches lessons important enough to justify the gar- 

 dening. 



2. We have found the greatest value in the abundant material 

 available for study in the autumn months. To this end we have 

 learned to select late-maturing varieties and in some cases have 

 the gardener start a late crop of certain vegetables, like radish, so 

 as to have materials for study in September and October. 



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