PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 577 



Connocticut has its school of horticiiltui'c at Hartford, and school 

 t^ardons in connection with the normal school at AN'illiniantic, several 

 of the schools at Hartford, and the school at West Hartford. The 

 school of horticulture (PI. XXXI, I'n^. 2), maintains the laro-est number 

 of oardens of considerable size of any institution in the country. There 

 are 1(5G <!iardens apportioned as follows: For teachers, 2-1: oardens, each 

 10 by 30 feet; for boys and girls, 125 gardens, each 10 by 25 feet, for 

 first-year pupils; 16 gardens, each 10 by 30 feet, for second-year 

 pupils, and 1 garden, 10 by 10 feet, for a third -year pupil. The pupils 

 are drawn largely from the city schools and have one hour a week in 

 the gardens. The second-year pupils also have root grafting and 

 greenhouse work, including the])reparation of soil, potting, repotting, 

 and pricking out plants, and will later be instructed in ])udding, spad- 

 ing, etc. Each cit}^ school is given six free scholarshi])s. First-year 

 pupils not receiving scholarships are charged $5 tuition. In close 

 proximity to the children\s gardcjis the school of horticulture main- 

 tains demonstration plats 40 feet square of nnuiy staple crops, such as 

 the cereals, flax, hemp, cotton, sugar cane, I'ice, tobacco, millet, and 

 sweet and medicinal her])s; also smaller plats of the various budding 

 plants. All of these plats are distincth' labeled, a feature which adds 

 greatly to their educational value. 



In Maine, Bath and perhaps a few other cities have begun school- 

 garden work and this last spring the Maine State Pomological Society 

 held a two-day horticultural school for children at Winthrop, in which 

 considerable effort was made to arouse an interest in nature-study 

 work and school gardening. A member of your conunittee gave an 

 illustrated lecture on school gardens the first evening of the school. 



hi Providenc(\ U. 1., school -gardcMi work began eleven years ago 

 at the Vineyard Sti'cet (irainmar School witli Hit- planting of ferns and 

 violets in one of the angles of the building. (Jaideiis have also been 

 conducted in connection with the kindergarten, the IJenefit Street 

 Primary School, and the vacation schools of the last tlircc years. This 

 spring ten new school gardfns liaxc been started in the city. At 

 several other points in Khode Island great inltTcst has hcfn aroused 

 in the work, and at Kast Greenwich an-angenu'iits ha^ c Ifccii made 

 for heoinning in a small wa\' this I'eature ol" industrial work. For 

 two years the Khode Island 1 lorticultui'al Society has offcM'cd |)rizes 

 for the best-kept school gardens. 



In \'ermont the State Normal School at .lohnson maintains a lialt- 

 acue experimental school garden in coimection with the training school. 

 A portion of the gai'den is devoted to coo])erative flower and vegetable 

 growing by the pui)ils in the low(>i" grades, the remainder to a potato 

 crop in chaige of granmiar-grade pupils, each of w lioin has "one long- 

 row to hoe." (PI. XXXIII, tig. 1.) The work includes inslmiction 

 S. Doc. 148, 58-2 37 



