BENEDICT] WILL SCHOOL-GARDENING SURVIVE? 259 



garden making, requires higher technical skill on the part of the 

 adviser than does the community garden, since the conditions of 

 soil, moisture, shade and slope will difier in each plot. It is also 

 evident that a system must be in operation which shall bring the 

 garden experts into personal acquaintance with the children and 

 their homes, not only in one but in all sections of the city, and 

 furthermore provide constant cooperation between the various 

 experts so that they will form an organized permanent force for the 

 continual increase of home gardens year after year. 



Three fundamental necessities, therefore, must be met by a 

 successful system for the development of the home garden move- 

 ment in cities: obtaining garden experts; bringing these experts 

 into contact with the children in their homes ; welding them into a 

 permanent coherent effective organization for the continuous 

 increase of home gardens, a definite factor added to the life of the 

 city for the years to come. 



Cincinnati has originated a system which it is believed meets 

 each of these requirements successfully. Essentially it is a 

 cooperative relation established between the Department of Botany 

 of the University of Cincinnati, and the pubHc school authorities. 



The splendidly organized city school system, with its grade 

 schools Icoated in every part of the city, each with its corps of 

 teachers in daily contact with the children from the neighboring 

 homes, admirably fulfils the requirements of contact with children 

 in all parts of the city. If some or all of these teachers, therefore, 

 can receive special training and then bring this technical training 

 to the service of the homes of the children in their respective 

 schools, the first and second fundamental requirements of the 

 home garden movement will be met. The public school authorities 

 bring about the service to the homes by agreeing to pay fifty cents 

 per hour for such work, after school hours and during the summer, 

 to those teachers who have received the necessary special training 

 The Department of Botany of the University agrees to furnish the 

 special technical training required This cooperative system had 

 been put to the test long enough to indicate whether it is practical 

 and its success justifies a more detailed statement of the procedure. 



Those teachers whose natural inclination toward gardening, 

 encouraged by the opportunity of additional salary, leads them to 

 desire to become official garden-inspectors, apply for entrance to 

 the special garden courses provided for them at the University. 



