October 23, 1915 



HORTICULTURE 



537 



SCHOOL GARDENS. 



A school garden has been defined as 

 a plot or section of ground where chil- 

 dren may be taught how to care for 

 growing plants. This plot or section 

 is not necessarily a part of the school, 

 but may be in the form of the public 

 garden or playground, or even in the 

 home yard or garden. 



Frederick Froebel, the founder of 

 the Kindergarten, says. "It is of the 

 utmost importance that children 

 should acquire the habit of cultivating 

 a plot of ground long before the school 

 lite begins. Nowhere as in the vege- 

 table kingdom can his action be so 

 clearly traced by him, entering in as 

 a link in the chain of cause and 

 effect." 



Children will take an active inter- 

 est in anything which they can watch 

 develop. The planting of seeds takes 

 on a new mystery when the seed is 

 "mine," and great is the joy when the 

 first tiny green leaves appear. 



It is necessary that the child be 

 taught that the proper care must be 

 given to the little seedling as well as 

 to the larger plant and that this care 

 must be exercised continuously. Wliat 

 Is more disappointing than to have a 

 fine lot of plants in good condition and 

 by forgetting the necessary drink of 

 water to find them looking as if they 

 were dead? Here is where the school 

 garden steps in and the child is taught 

 to till the ground, plant the seed, 

 watch against enemies of all kind, and 

 to give the plants the proper amount 

 of water and sunshine. 



In many places, especially in large 

 cities, there Is not sufficient available 

 space to give even a small plot to 

 every one who applies, but in nearly 

 every schoolyard there is a portion 

 covered with grass. Here many les- 

 sons of responsibility, care of ^lublic 

 property, etc., can be taught by allow- 

 ing the children to look after this 

 spot of green, keeping it free from 

 paper and weeds and where there are 

 flowers, keeping them in good growing 

 condition. 



I know of no better place to teach 

 a child "property rights" than riglit 

 in the garden. If this lesson were im- 

 pressed on a child from the time he is 

 wanting to take or use everything in 

 sight, regardless of ownership, when 

 he comes where there are other chil- 

 dren that have equal rights there will 

 not be the constant harassing of 

 others. In a garden in which each 

 child or set of children can have a 

 plot this cannot be too strongly em- 

 phasized, for what child, be he careful 

 or careless, will not resent, and justly, 

 too, the injuring of his plants in any 

 way? 



If you members of the Ladies' So- 

 ciety of American Florists are living in 

 a town in which you do not have 

 School Gardens "get out and push." 

 Get the Parent-Teachers' Association, 

 the Civic Club, or any other club that 

 is interested in Child Welfare, at work 

 and have these gardens. Too mucli 

 cannot be said about the help which 

 they give the children and the idle 

 ground is made to "blossom like a 

 rose" instead of producing the usual 

 crop of weeds. 



In my home town, Lancaster. Pa., the 

 first garden was staraed by the princi- 

 pal of a public school, and she has prac- 

 tically reformed the neighborhood in 



A CEMETERY GREENHOUSE. 



View In Geranium House at Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pa. 



The house shown in the first picture 

 is 25 by 100 feet, one of a range of 

 very useful plant houses. The second 

 picture shows a section of the coleua 

 house, with a portrait of Walter Jor- 

 dan, the gardener for the cemetery. 

 The plant stand speaks for itself in ' 

 l)oth pictures. 



Plant Stand Used at Homewood Cemetery. 



which this school is situated. The 

 school was built on the edge of a pub- 

 lic dumping ground. A fine large 

 building with an unusual amount of 

 ground space. The teacher started by 

 l)eautifying the lawn. The children 

 became so entliusiastic they got the 

 fathers to liuiit up the proper authori- 

 ties and had tlie dump closed. At the 

 back of the building some ground \\as 

 procured and a tennis court and base- 

 ball diamond were laid out. for tnis 

 teacher believes that "all work and no 

 play malie Jack a dull boy." The re- 

 mainder was laid out in sections and 

 ihe children of the higher grades were 

 given an opportimity to have vegetable 

 gardens as well as flower gardens. 

 Now this school, which stood for two 

 months stark and bare on the edge of 

 a dump, is. the whole year round, a 

 source of beauty and joy. not only to 



the children but to the whole neigh- 

 borhood and the passerby. 



Since this fine example has been set, 

 public gardens have been opened In 

 four sections of the city, in which tor 

 the sum of five cents any boy or girl 

 can rent a small plot on which can be 

 raised plants according to the indivi- 

 dual taste. How the children enjoy 

 these gardens, the work and the 

 chance of showing them off. What 

 splendid opportunity to get in close 

 touch with Nature! Here the lessons 

 of neatness, neighborly kindness, help- 

 fulness, fair play and the love of labor 

 are the more firmly impressed because 

 of the spirit of recreation which enters 

 into all the work. 



May I appeal to you. florists, florists' 

 wives, daughters and mothers to be- 

 come interested in this work and nelp 

 put in practice in your home towns? 

 This will not be wasted energy; for 

 every garden opened will be the means 

 of keeping many uncared-for children 

 ofl the streets and teaching them clean 

 living. The florist clubs can as.sist 

 you very much to carry out this move- 

 ment. The Lancaster Florist Club 

 gives nearly all the seeds used in our 

 public gardens. Each year they make 

 a liberal donation of both flower aad 

 vegetable seeds to the persons having 

 the work in charge. 



We cannot afford to look only on 

 the dollar-and-cents side of our trade, 

 l);it if we can implant in the hearts of 

 the boys aiid girls the love of plants 

 and flowers, it will eventually make 

 rfturns to some florist, and what helps 

 on.! is. In nearly every case, of bene- 

 lit to the trade at large. 



In one of the trade papers I saw the 

 fcllowing and treasured it, never ex- 



(Continuffi on /rt^v Jj6j 



