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stant cropping was used because the boys and girls involved in this 
project had sufficient foundation from their past experience in 
gardening to work intelligently and independently toward the end 
set before them, and that end was the production of as much crop 
as possible on a given area of land. As far as I know, there are 
few gardens in this country where, under given conditions, so 
great a use has been made of a given area of city land. 
Another onward step in our work has been that of grading more 
carefully our garden work, so that the beginner covered a certain 
definite ground of knowledge in gardening upon which more ad- 
vanced lessons were based for the next grading. Some of the 
lessons taught to beginners covered the following subjects: time 
and method of planting, thinning, cultivating and planting, neatness 
in work, care of tools. In the next grading independent plans for 
a garden and choices of crops are worked out. In the third educa- 
tional stage the theme swings around the point of increased knowl- 
edge of plants and plant families. 
We have been experimenting with certain educational tests of 
our own this year—tests to determine clearness of concept in the 
mind of the child who comes to us untrained in garden work, and 
of those boys and girls who have been studying with us. The 
department is not prepared at this time to present any of these 
tests, nor does it deem it wise to, since there is not enough data to 
demonstrate any one point involved. 
Our work with penny packets of seed for children has increased 
normally during the past year. Miss Edna Burtis, who has charge 
of that work, has reorganized it and placed it on a more efficient 
and business-like basis. A method of rechecking the work has 
been used at her suggestion which minimizes the number of possi- 
ble petty errors, and this has been a very real contribution. 
Our greenhouse work has grown to such an extent that the 
mechanical end of it, the handling of pots and of class material, 
has become so burdensome that it seemed wise to engage a man 
for this purpose. Mr. John Stimpfl, one of our Federal Board 
students, accepted this greenhouse position in September of this 
year. 
Visiting classes to the Botanic Garden always receive some 
plants from our children’s greenhouse to use in their classrooms 
