22 
ings are held four times a year and are for the purpose of dis- 
cussing work done by the boys in the field of botany and garden- 
ing. Four boys received silver pins for special work done inde- 
pendent of class instruction. One lad worked all summer rais- 
ing various kinds of lettuce such as romaine, heading lettuce, 
chicory, chervil, and endive. He had a plot at the Garden, 
made his plantings in this, photographed results and studied the 
history of lettuce. Another boy made cotton his piece of work. 
He, too, had a plot at the Garden for his cotton. Corn was 
chosen for study by another of the boys. He chose two varie- 
ties only, laying stress on tests, soils, corn pests, and the various 
commercial products obtained from the corn plant. The fourth 
made a study of flowering and flowerless plants making a col- 
lection of over two hundred specimens. These boys were all 
high school students in our local high schools. Mr. Winter, head 
of department in public school No, 3, spoke to the Club on the 
value of independent work, and of the training they were receiv- 
ing, not only in botany and gardening, but unconsciously in ex- 
pressing themselves before their fellows, in giving public reports 
of their work. Each recipient of a silver pin told the Club in 
detail of the work done in order to win it. 
The Girls’ Club—At the meeting of the Brooklyn Botanic 
Garden Girls’ Club, on November 25, five girls received silver 
pins from the Garden. The Garden presents these pins when a 
boy or girl has done an acceptable piece of work which shall have 
extended over a period of at least six months time, and is of the 
character of original work. 
These five girls all chose to study common garden flowers. 
Last spring they performed certain experiments to learn how a 
seed starts its life, and what it needs for growth. From this 
they went on to plan out a flower border, which was the one 
started this summer in front of the individual plots in our chil- 
dren’s gardens. These girls did most of the planting of this 
flower border. They observed the flowering time of each plant, 
color of its blossom, height of plant and best use of each plant 
in the border. Such a study resulted in active observation, and 
in the consulting of many different books, and of course involved 
considerable garden practice. 
