GARDEN NOTES 



The Melrose club, Mr. Mortensen su- 

 pervisor, has announced work on an 

 adjoining vacant lot. The Melrose 

 school is on the progressive list and 

 will have an interesting demonstra- 

 tion In the early summer. The sixth 

 and seventh grades are interested. 

 They are entered in the sweet pea con- 

 test. 



* * * 



The Hillside school, Berkeley, is the 

 first to announce the attainment of a 

 vacant lot for this term. The children 

 will commence work at once to beau- 

 tify and to make useful this plat. This 

 announcement was made by the princi- 

 pal of the school at a mother's meeting. 

 The lot will be made the center of ex- 

 tension work for the community. Other 

 lots will be lightly plowed and the 

 children will sow flower seed broad- 

 cast. Each school should be an in- 

 fluence for good in its community. 



Mr. Underhill, living in the Hillside 

 region, offered, at the above meeting, 

 to prepare as well as to donate his 

 vacant lot if the children would sow 

 the seeds. Let other Berkeley citizens 

 follow suit. 



* * * 



Mr. Imrie has been able to obtain an 

 adjoining lot through the kindness of 

 the owner, Mrs. Rush. The Le Conte 

 school, Berkeley, will thus widen its 

 work. 



* * * 



Many new clubs have been formed 

 during the past week. Our garden 

 enrollment now numbers at least 4,000 

 boys and girls. 



* * ■* 



Miss McDermott, an enthusiastic 

 worker in San Francisco, has interested 

 over 250 children in the sweet pea con- 

 test. Mr. Heaton of the same city has 

 long had home gardening as an ideal 

 for school children, and intends to fur- 

 ther the sweet pea idea. 



* * * 



Birds bear a close relation to gar- 

 dening. Several Oakland teachers met 

 in Berkeley Saturday morning of last 

 week to study birds in the field. Seven- 

 teen different varieties were identified; 

 the English sparrow, white crowned 

 sparrow, the spurred towhee, the Cali- 

 fornia towhee, Arma's humming bird, 

 red shafted flicker, ruby crowned king- 

 let, California woodpecker, California 

 bushtit, dwarf hermit, thrush, house 

 wren, California jay, Stellers jay, 

 Sierra junco, western robin, song spar- 

 row, plain titmouse. Trips are to be 

 taken every other Saturday morning. 



* * * 



A few boys were at the Berkeley 

 garden city Saturday. They sold many 

 vegetables. The soil is too wet to be 

 worked, but the plants need thinning 



out. One row of radishes which was 

 well taken care of has produced nearly 

 $3 worth. Other rows not thinned 

 out will be a loss to the owner. 



* 



■* 



Do not forget to plant flower seeds 

 in boxes now, that the young plants 

 may be moved to the open later — pan- 

 sies, stocks, verbenas, petunias, cor- 

 eopsis, daisies, etc. 



It is not too late to enter the sweet 

 pea contest. Send in your name. If 

 directions for growing sweet peas are 

 desired they will be mailed to growers. 



Mr. Vergon, principal of the Emer- 

 son school, Oakland, did a fine piece 

 of work last year in school gardening. 

 The boys and girls under his direction 

 worked nearly an acre of land. Pota- 

 toes at the rate of 250 bushels to the 

 acre and other products in a like pro- 

 portion were raised. Mr. Vergon has 

 given us many pictures of the work. 

 Some of these will be reproduced on 

 these pages. We hope that he will 

 continue his efforts. 



* •* * 



We are glad to hear from you, Jun- 

 iors. Write, telling of your garden 

 work. Pictures also are welcomed. The 

 other boys and girls are anxious to 

 know about your gardens. 



* #■ * 



L. E. Brauer, principal of the Salem 

 school, Lodi, has added his fifth grade 

 of 44 members to the Lodi gardening 

 club. 



J. H. Garrison of the San Fer- 

 nando schools is doing excellent work. 

 He has a gardening contest under way 

 which is giving much interest to plant 

 growth. Forty-five dollars is to be 

 given as seven prizes to the best gar- 

 deners of the fifth, sixth, seventh and 

 eighth grades. The prizes are offered 

 by patrons of the schools. Miss Cecil 

 Peabody is helping Mr. Garrison. 



* * * 



The Berkeley Gardening association 

 is planning to give seeds to the children 

 for home gardens. 



* # * 



Miss Z. Henrich and Miss Collier have 

 many new plans for the People's Place 

 gardens in San Francisco. These 

 teachers are really serving. 



* * * 



Three points should be added to the 

 sweet pea score card for punctuation, 

 arrangement, spelling and neatness of 

 diary. 



