•>68d 



HORTICULTURE 



August 19. 1911 



REPORT ON SCHOOL GARDENING 

 BY THE S. A. F. COMMITTEE. 



At Hi" Annual Convention of the 

 Society of American Florists held in 

 ill.' city of Washington, August 18th, 

 1892, Ilia! is nineteen years ago, Mr. 

 Robert Farquhar of Boston read a 

 paper on "Floriculture for Children," 

 as a means of increasing and diffusing 

 a knowledge of flowers. He stated, at 

 that time. "I think the members of 

 ibis societ\ should make a united ef- 

 fort to have the claims of Floriculture 

 and all kindred subjects for children 

 recognized in all public schools. I feel 

 sure that a large majority of the 

 teachers would give their hearty sup- 

 port to wisely planned efforts in this 

 direction." A broader or better sug- 

 gestion is seldom made than was this. 

 Since that time, the School Garden 

 idea has become national. Last year 

 your committee made an exhaustive 

 examination as to what was being 

 done in this direction in the various 

 states of the American Union, and 

 made a report in some detail. 



When the committee was reappoint- 

 ed, the work of School Gardening was 

 known to be so extensive that just 

 what the committee could accomplish 

 was not clear, but a special suggestive 

 circular was issued and sent far and 

 wide over the country and the various 

 responses that came back would be, in 

 volume, beyond limit to reproduce. 



As a sample of what this important 

 work is accomplishing we may give a 

 few examples. First, the greatest at- 

 tention and the most extensive adver- 

 tising of the movement is being done 

 in the large cities, but in the smaller 

 towns comparatively little is being 

 done. Various states are giving pre- 

 eminence to instruction in Primary 

 Agricultural knowledge, notably New 

 York state, who now requires of each 

 of the School Commissioners to be able 

 to pass an examination which covers 

 a fundamental knowledge of Agri- 

 culture. 



In New Jersey, particularly in the 

 region of Orange, the work of develop- 

 ing the instinct of cultivation is car- 

 ried on most admirably. In that sub- 

 urban district to the city of New York, 

 the neatness and beauty attached to so 

 many homes is such that it may be ac- 

 cepted as a model for many another 

 district of the same general character. 

 At Hastings. Mich., a little town of 

 about 3500 people, much interest is 

 taken in this work, many waste places 

 having been made beautiful and at- 

 tractive, and many a home has been 

 improved by the work done there. 

 Last year one little girl raised 160 

 heads of cabbage from a package of 

 seeds costing a penny. In Worcester, 

 Mass.. great work has been done along 

 this line, and William D. Ross, the 

 seedsman of that city, was one of the 

 pioneers in starting School Gardens, 

 and for several years gave away seeds 

 absolutely free, and this started a 

 movement that has borne rich results. 



At Lancaster, Pa., the florists there 

 deserve much credit for helping along 

 the movement. Twenty thousand shade 

 trees were recently given out to the 

 school children and most of them 

 wese planted. Such work as this is 

 what makes the city beautiful. At 

 Amherst, Mass., a novel illustration 

 of object teaching was done by Dr. 

 Beales, Prof. Emeritus of the Michi- 

 gan Agricultural College, who started 

 as a part of the School Garden a weed 

 garden patch, so that the children 



could learn to distinguish destructive 

 ami and' sirable vegetation. In Buffalo, 

 our friend. Prof. Cowell, has in many 

 a way urged and helped along the 

 work. Buffalo is a city where so many 

 people enjoy a bit of ground with their 

 homes that the work there has telling 

 effect, and the Superintendent of Pub- 

 lic Schools, writing to Mr. Kasting, 

 recently said: "I wish to assure you 

 of my interest in the matter and my 

 desire to confer further with you rela- 

 tive to its advancement." In a 

 crowded city like New York window 

 boxes play a most important part of 

 instruction. Cedar Rapids, that thrifty 

 city of Iowa, is where the necessity 

 for systematic training in School Gar- 

 den work is not yet fully appreciated, 

 although our friends. Messrs. I. N. 

 Kramer & Son, florists, have done 

 their best to start up the work. Cleve- 

 land has probably done more system- 

 atic work in teaching children garden- 

 ing than any other place, and the 

 Home Garden Association of that city, 

 because of its untiring work gives a 

 constant impetus, for from "School 

 Gardening" it is only a step to "Home 

 Gardening" and this is the achieve- 

 ment to be desired: 



"To make the waste places of the 

 city beautiful and useful. 



"To give knowledge of gardening 

 for pleasure and profit. 



"To train city children in the culti- 

 vation of the soil. 



"To draw attention to the import- 

 ance of work on the land." 



In all this work how far it is best 

 to go in providing tools and all seeds 

 free is a question. It is doubtful if 

 you cannot go too far in public dis- 

 tribution of seeds. The idea that the 

 government is going to furnish every- 

 thing is not a wise course to develop 

 true independence of character. 



The United States Government has 

 given attention to this study, and the 

 Bulletins that have been issued, par- 

 ticularly one by Mr. L. C. Corbett, 

 Horticulturist of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry - is one of great value to a 

 teacher, because children usually are 

 not originators: they are followers, 

 and the teacher must know, to be suc- 

 cessful, how to be able to do things, 

 and this Bulletin, the "School Gar- 

 den," is particularly well fitted for 

 that purpose. Miss Susan C. Sipe, who 

 delivered before the convention of 

 the S. A. F. when held in Washington 

 an interesting talk upon this subject, 

 has prepared a descriptive pamphlet 

 which is issued by the Office of Ex- 

 periment Stations in Washington, 

 upon School Gardening and Nature 

 Study in English Schools, with illus- 

 trations, and surely it would seem that 

 England is the land of the "Home 

 Garden." Our friend. Dick J. Crosby 

 of the Agricultural Department, has 

 also sent out a Bulletin known as 

 "Farmers' Bulletin 40S." There is not 

 a rural school teacher, but what may 

 read that Bulletin to the utmost ad- 

 vantage. Prof. Galloway, Chief of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, lends a 

 hand upon School Gardens in general, 

 and in his excellent pamphlet issued 

 in 1905. entitled "School Gardens." 

 s the ways of getting at this 

 work that is exceedingly instructive. 



In the city of Poughkeepsie. N. Y.. 

 Principal William L. Wildy says: "I 

 am directing the work for the Pough- 

 keepsie Garden School in Eastman's 

 Park. We have 200 children making 

 gardens there now. This is the third 

 year for the garden. I am also direct- 



ing the work for the School Garden 

 Association of New York City. We 

 have under way five gardens in con- 

 nection with the public schools. They 

 are known as "Model Gardens." With 

 these five gardens we have about 200 

 children interested in the work. I find 

 them very good workers and expect to 

 have very good gardens there." 



At Fishkill-on-Hudson, N. Y., the 

 academic pupils mapped out and 

 named the trees and shrubs growing 

 upon the grounds to the number of 94, 

 as the result of the botanical work and 

 instruction which they received in the 

 school, and in this same school dis- 

 trict the present year there are HI 

 children, ranging from S years to 17, 

 who are members of the "Home Gar- 

 den Brigade." This work wherever it 

 is carried on results in improving the 

 streets. 



In Springfield, Ohio, we find that 

 Christian Binnig and John M. Good, 

 representing the Springfield Florists' 

 Club, presented to the members of the 

 Board of Education a plan to beautify 

 the yards around the public school 

 buildings and they took hold of the 

 work there with mnch earnestness. 

 Here is a point that we wish to dwell 

 upon. There is listed in the Florists' 

 Directory as many as 6000 florists 

 scattered through the United States, 

 aside from the nurserymen. The work 

 that is possible to be done by these 

 men in each of their towns is very 

 considerable and in any effort for pub- 

 lic improvement it never rests simply 

 with the man who has large means, 

 but local florists can do just as these 

 people at Springfield have done, make 

 the suggestion to their local Board of 

 Trustees, and very few but what would 

 see beneficial results from their efforts. 



This work is now almost world wide 

 among the leading people. In Ceylon, 

 the Royal Botanical Gardens in their 

 reports state: "The School Garden in- 

 troduced into Ceylon about ten years 

 ago has come to stay. Every year 

 more and more schools are taking up 

 this line of work and there are not 

 wanting indications that before long 

 most schools will have School Gardens 

 attached to them." In Austria over 

 v000 gardens are cultivated in connec- 

 tion with the Austrian schools, the 

 pupils receiving there expert tuition 

 in Horticulture. 



In Scotland, the prize garden is said 

 to be at Drumwhindie, and the finest 

 in Great Britain. The garden measures 

 one-quarter of an acre, and is en- 

 closed on two sides by the school play 

 grounds. At the two corners of the 

 garden are neatly constructed rooker- 

 ies. In the first border ail the plants 

 growing therein were prominently 

 named by signs of white letters on a 

 piece of grain stained wood. Around 

 the walls were roses, apples, plums 

 and cherries. The work in this gar- 

 den was confined chiefly to the pupils 

 over twelve years of age. This garden 

 is so well kept up that it is almost a 

 museum of itself, but the work is 

 done by the children. 



To show the extent of this School 

 Garden work in further detail would 

 be tiresome for the work goes on 

 throughout the United States, but 

 enough has been said to illustrate the 

 importance given to this subject from 

 a practical economic view. 



Benjamin Hammond, chairman; C. 

 B. Whitnall, Milwaukee, Wis., Michael 

 Barker, Chicago. 111., Wm. R. Smith, 

 Washington, D. C, C. L. Seybold, Bal- 

 timore, Md. 



