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class at his summer home on Long Island, and by some members 
of the Montclair (N. J.) Academy. 
The method of instruction in our gardens is not a group method, 
except in the first lessons, or when the gardens are planted. After 
that the instruction is individual. Fach child advances as fast as 
his ability and the condition of his crop permits. The older chil- 
dren assist in teaching new ones or those backward in work. 
On the firsteof August, when the regular garden was running 
easily, classes were started in nature subjects which were related 
to gardens. These classes were taught by the young women in 
training. The subjects taken up included work on trees, wild- 
flowers, weeds, the mounting of botanical specimens, birds, and 
first aid in case of simple accidents which might occur in the 
garden. The older boys made a study of economic plants. After 
their study they were assigned a special topic, such as cotton, how 
linen is made from a flax plant, rice as food, etc. ‘Then the boys 
gave talks on their special subjects to the younger children. The 
stereopticon was at their disposal, and whatever illustrative mate- 
rial they had raised themselves or the Botanic Garden could offer. 
The members of these gardens were debarred from exhibiting 
in the regular fall exhibit ; but medals were offered for this garden 
alone, so that all the season the children worked with this in view. 
First and second prizes were offered for the best kept garden, 
irrespective of amount of produce. 
The children’s greenhouse classes represented a starting in our 
work. During the spring, letters were sent to every public ele- 
mentary school in the city of Brooklyn, offering help and advice in 
garden work. We went to these schools largely to interest the 
children in their own home gardens, and incidentally to acquaint 
them with a source of help, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 
Twenty-one schools out of the total of 167, sent in requests for 
help. In most cases, the help rendered has been in the form of 
talks to the children on their own home gardens, how to plant in 
boxes or little backyards. The response and interest has been 
greater than was anticipated. At the same time, the children and 
their teachers and parents have become somewhat acquainted with 
the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and with its significance to the City 
of Brooklyn. After these talks invariably some of the children 
