246 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



FLOWER WORK IN THE RURAL SCHOOLS. 



MRS. M. M. BARNARD, MINNEAPOLIS. 



The question that 1 have been asked to answer here today is, 

 whether after eleven years' experience in the flower work of the 

 Minneapolis Improvement League I could suggest any way in 

 which this work, which has done so much for Minneapolis and for 

 its school children, could be adapted to the needs of rural districts. 



I have often wished that the work could be extended in some 

 way that would include all of the children in the state and have 

 thought of many ways, but they all require too much money for 

 their execution. I can think of but one way in which the same 

 general plan of working through the school could be adopted with- 

 out great expense, and that is for some state organization like 

 the State Horticultural Society, for example, 'to form a junior 

 department and to add to its monthly magazine a few pages de- 

 voted especially to the interests of this department. 



In order to make such a department a success, I think the 

 main thing to consider is the welfare of the children and to adapt 

 the work to their requirements, for sooner or later if it succeeds 

 it will resolve itself into that. The primary object of the improve- 

 ment league was to beautify the city, but very soon the committee 

 in charge found that the moral needs of the children were greater 

 than the aesthetic needs of the city, although the two were so 

 closely bound together that the same means fulfilled both require- 

 ments. 



For the sake of bringing the matter more clearly before you, 

 perhaps I had better say just a few words about this flower work. 

 As some of you may know already, it is a scheme whereby the 

 school children, the parents, the teachers and the members of the 

 Improvement League all work together for the accomplishment of 

 the object for which the Improvement League stands: i. e., to 

 promote the health, beauty and cleanliness of the city. Our meth- 

 ods have, of course, been adapted to the needs of the children 

 and the city. The best method, we believed, in which we could 

 interest the children was by the free distribution of flower seed ; 

 afterwards vegetable seeds were added, and both flower and vege-' 

 table seeds distributed to all who would promise to prepare a 

 proper place, whether in the yard or in boxes. When the member 

 wishing to engage in the work has been ascertained, the seed is 

 sent to each school and there distributed among the children. 

 Usually from 15,000 to 20,000 ask for seed each year. The teachers 

 talk to the children about their flowers and the care of the gar- 

 dens. Each child has a copy of Miss White's little "Culture of 



