FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 109 



Our first idea of the school garden was obtained from Germany, and 

 the first school garden established in the United States was in connec- 

 tion with the George Putnam Grammar School in Boston, where, for ten 

 or twelve years, the work consisted mainly in the observation of native 

 plants grown in the school yard. This work was deservedly popular 

 and led to the establishment of similar gardens in connection with a 

 few other schools in the vicinity of Boston. In 1900 a new plan was 

 adopted. A vacant lot, in the rear of the school grounds, was secured, 

 and eighty-four vegetable gardens were planted by as many pupils from 

 the seventh grade. Each pupil was given to understand that the garden 

 cared for by him was his property, and that the products of his labor 

 were to be disposed of as he saw fit. The advantages of this system 

 were at once apparent, and it was not long before other schools took up 

 the work. 



The Boston Normal School established vegetable gardens in connection 

 with its practice school two years ago, and last year normal school 

 graduates had charge of school garden work in seven of the schools in 

 Boston and one in Brookline. Vegetable gardens are now maintained 

 in connection with the normal schools in Framingham and Hyannis, 

 Massachusetts ; Johnson, Vermont ; Hampton, Virginia ; Washington, D. 

 C. ; and several others places. At Hyannis the garden work is closely 

 correlated with the other school work. In laying out their garden plats, 

 the children solve, in a practical way, problems in geometry and arith- 

 metic. They raise vegetables, sell them, open an account with the local 

 bank by depositing their money, purchase pictures for the decoration 

 of their schoolrooms and close their bank accounts by checking out 

 their money. These are only a few of the exercises which they are re- 

 quired to perform in connection with the garden work, and it is need- 

 less to say that they enter into the work with much more zest and 

 enthusiasm because of the very evident practical trend of the exercises. 

 Children enjoy doing What would otherwise be drudgery when they can 

 see that it aids them to accomplish a desired end. 



The school children of Hartford, Connecticut, have the privilege of 

 attending the Handicraft School of Horticulture just outside of the 

 city, where a laboratory, greenhouse and nearly 200 gardens are main- 

 tained iinder private benefaction for their benefit. In the heart of New 

 York City, 150 children of the street have redeemed a portion of a park 

 reservation which, for several years, served as a public dump. Here, 

 under the direction of competent teachers, they have spent two delight- 

 ful summers in raising vegetables and learning how to cook them, and 

 have sent many specimens to the city schools to be examined by the 

 less fortunate children. At Hampton, Virginia, all the pupils in the 

 Whittier School (a practice school in connection with the Hampton 

 Normal and Agricultural Institute) from the kindergartners up, are 

 required to do outdoor work and take instruction in agriculture. The 

 kindergartners have beds four by six feet, those in the first grade larger 

 beds, and last-year pupils work with horses and farm implements, in 

 a field. 



The school gardens in Washington, D. C, are conducted under the 

 auspices of the Washington Normal School and the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, the latter furnishing a small greenhouse, potting room, 

 seeds and plants, land for thirty gardens, and volunteers to oversee gar- 

 den work in other parts of the city. The work is directed by the science 



