BEAUTIFYING SCHOOL GROUNDS 





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Fig. 2530. School House. 



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AN excellent address was given Thurs- 

 day evening, 27th November, 1902, 

 before the Woodstock Horticultural Society 

 by Mr. G. R. Patullo, the president, from 

 which we take the following extracts : 



SCHOOL GARDENS. 



I am in favor ot both school gardens on 

 school grounds and ot scholars' gardens at 

 home. Teachers' gardens have also been 

 tried, and are common in some European 

 countries, including Russia, Prussia, Aus- 

 tria, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden. It 

 may be that conditions here are not alto- 

 gether favorable for teachers' gardens, as 

 carried on in older countries. But I would 

 respectfully suggest to every teacher that, if 

 at all possible, he should cultivate a little 

 garden, and from time to time make use 

 of it as an object lesson to pupils. 



Thus far there are only pupils* gardens in 

 this country, and the movement is spread- 

 ing rapidly, both in the United States and 

 Canada. There are said to be over 100,000 



school gardens in Europe. The first one 

 started on this side was in Boston in 1891. 

 There they had vegetable gardens as well as 

 flowers and plants. The boys had individ- 

 ual plots where once a week they worked, 

 planting, weeding and watering. The flow- 

 ers were at first confined to ferns and a few 

 annuals. But later, vegetables were intro- 

 duced and with success. In one garden 

 thus established, and promoted by the off"er 

 of prizes and seeds, where the vegetable 

 plots were small, being only large enough 

 for a short row of radishes, onions, lettuce, 

 beans, two hills of 'potatoes, two cabbage 

 plants, one cucumber vine and one tomato 

 plant, the children thoroughly enjoyed the 

 planting, caring of them, and reaping the 

 results of their production. As a result 

 "lettuce sandwiches" in spring were the 

 chief feature of school lunches. Later on 

 "cucumbers for breakfast," and "beans 

 enough for dinner " were enjoyed. 



In other cases flower beds or small vege- 



