350 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



,500 girls have psirticipatod in the woilc of this school in the last three 

 months." 



Another large school garden is maintained in the vicinity of New 

 York City at Yonkers. This comprises Ih acres and is divided into 

 240 plats which are oj^erated hy as many boys, ranging from 9 to 13 

 years of age. This garden has been so popular that a waiting list 

 is kept and when for any reason a boy drops out of the work there is 

 no difficulty in tilling his place. Each boy receives a ticket with his 

 name and the number of his plat on it, together with a badge marked 

 '* School (Jarden.'" He pays 2 cents a week to the superintendent for 

 " seed and instruction," but this of course does not begin to cover the 

 cost of the seed alone. The j^rincipal object of this small payment is 

 to give the boys a sense of proprietorship, and thus stimulate their 

 interest. Each boy is required to attend to his plat at least twice a 

 week, but the average visits have been more frequent. Each boy 

 receives a memorandum book which has to be kept at the garden. 

 Every time that he visits the garden he must make an entry in the 

 book, which thus becomes a diary of his garden operations. This 

 garden is under the auspices of the Women's Institute, the head of 

 which is Miss Mary Marshall Butler. A practical gardener is in 

 charge, and he is assisted by a voluntary committee of several 

 gardeners. 



The city councils of Philadelphia appropriated $3,500 in 1904 and 

 again in 1905 for the maintenance of two public school gardens in the 

 city. One of these was established in Weccacoe square, Catherine 

 street below Fifth, on a vacant lot owned by the city, in the heart of 

 a crowded foreign quarter. It contained 232 individual plats and 

 18 general plats. The children were selected from the seventh and 

 eighth grades of 14 schools within walking distance of the garden. 

 The other garden was located at Fifty-sixth street and Lansdowne 

 avenue, in a semisuburban neighborhood, and also contained 250 

 plats. About 400 children were taught in each garden. During the 

 days when there were school hours the children worked in the gar- 

 dens after school. During the summer vacation they had regularly 

 appointed hours at different times of the day. When they had been 

 taught to hoe, thin, transplant, etc., classes were formed, which re- 

 ceived lessons in j^lant life after their work for the day. Vegetables 

 and flowers were grown and materials were furnished for nature 

 study and drawing in the public schools. " The teachers were so 

 deluged with requests for plats next year that they adopted the 

 practice of appointing special hours when the children could apply. 

 At one of these special appointments the policemen had to form the 

 children in two lines, and two teachers were busy over two hours 

 taking down names and addresses of would-be little farmers." 



In 1905 the Weccacoe Square Garden was removed to Porter and 



