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I must tell you of a personal experience. Last summer while 
visiting the City of Rochester I was invited by the garden super- 
visor to inspect some of the children’s gardens. In Rochester 
they have a fine program of gardening which includes both plot 
gardens in connection with the schools and home gardens at the 
homes of pupils. Both school gardens and home gardens are 
under supervision and the work is done as a part of the school 
program. - 
Among the gardens inspected we visited the home garden of 
an Italian boy. To reach the garden we were obliged to go 
through the father’s store. The father did not understand Eng- 
lish well (the boy was not with us at the time). With some 
difficulty we made him understand that we desired to see the boy’s 
garden. When the father understood he was very proud to 
direct us to the garden and he did so with a great deal of defer- 
ence. Working our way around the grocery boxes, the cases of 
oranges and the baskets of vegetables we went as directed through 
the store and out the back door. There we found the boy and 
nearby was the boy’s garden. Proudly the little chap unlocked 
the door, for the garden was surrounded by a high wire fence, 
and the door leading to it was locked. When inside we saw corn, 
and tomatoes, and potatoes, and lettuce, and radishes, and 
spinach, and several other vegetables, in a variety of stages of 
growth and maturity. The boy was quick to tell us how much 
money he had made from the vegetables that he had already 
harvested. But what impressed me was the way he looked. me 
in the eyes when he told me about it. I could not help but feel 
that he was more likely to become a good self-respecting Amer- 
ican citizen as a result of his experience in raising that garden. . 
I felt that I knew that father and that boy pretty well before I 
left them. The garden furnished a pretty good point of contact. 
Statements made by many school superintendents and by 
several garden supervisors convince me that school gardening is 
an excellent agent in work of Americanization. 
5. The school garden affords a means of help in developing 
the inborn instincts. What are some of these instincts? Into 
what may they develop? Consider, for instance, the special 
