THAYER] CHILDREN'S GARDENS 63 



flower or vei^ctable. The choice was not always wise, for some of 

 the younger children, probably acting on suggestions of their par- 

 ents, chose seeds most difficult to germinate. Girls and boys were 

 about equally divided in their choice of flowers and vegetables, 

 which was much to my surprise ; and later in the summer I found 

 the girls quite as successful vegetable gardeners as the boys. 



During the days following the distribution of the seeds little 

 conversation was heard about the school building and neighbor- 

 hood save of planting; and it soon became evident that what the 

 children lacked in knowledge and experience they made up by 

 their enthusiasm. Would it last through the summer, was the 

 question. It seemed necessary that the children should be watched 

 over and encouraged, and so they were told that I would visit 

 their gardens when they were well started and that my disap- 

 pointment would be great if they had nothing to show me. They 

 were told, also, that the New England Agricultural Society had 

 asked the school children to make exhibits of flowers and vege- 

 tables at the fair to be held in Worcester early in September and 

 that it was hoped that every child in Downing St. school would 

 raise something worthy of exhibit. It was understood by every 

 child that if he were assisted by others in the production of his 

 flowers or vegetables, they would not be eligible for exhibit at the 

 fair. Knowing this, a little girl in the lowest grade chose only 

 vegetable seeds in order to avoid any suspicion that her father, 

 who was a florist, had helped her. 



As soon as the home-gardens were fairly started, work was 

 begun on some garden beds for the school-yard. The year before 

 we had made an attempt at a flower bed, but in our ignorance 

 had made it by heaping the loam on the hard gravel of the school- 

 yard and in midsummer our plants wilted and died. We had thus 

 learned from experience that the bed must be lowered nearly to 

 the level of the yard to prevent drying out. Volunteers removed 

 the loam, excavated through the hard gravel to the depth of 

 eighteen inches, then replaced the loam. New beds were made in 

 the same way, two for flowers and one for vegetables and a fourth 

 for a dozen varieties of sweet herbs. Boys and girls in the school 

 volunteered to care for the beds ; and, with an occasional reminder, 

 they were kept well weeded and watered throughout the summer. 



As soon as there was something to see in the home-gardens, I 

 besran to visit them whenever I could before and after school until 



