*School Gardening in the South with Suggestions for 

 the Fall and Winter Period 



By E. A. Miller 



Assistant in Agricultural Education, Office of Experiment Stations, 

 United States Department of Agriculture 



Value and Purposes. 



It is unnecessary to advance reasons in this paper favoring 

 school gardens. The movement has long since passed the point 

 at which there is any question as to the value of garden work for 

 school children. Practically all the friends of the movement 

 are agreed that its real purpose is educative in a broad sense. 

 The student who has the privilege of an extensive school garden 

 experience profits, first, from the vitalizing influence that such 

 work has upon the regular subjects of the school course; next, 

 from the productive impulses set in motion within him by seeing 

 the work of his hands develop ; in the third place, from the esthe- 

 tic stimulation which he receives by coming in contact with the 

 beauties of nature; also, from the spirit of co-operation engendered 

 within him as a result of his laboring with his fellows for a common 

 purpose; and last, but by no means least, frora the sense of 

 resourcefulness he feels growing out of the possession of a product 

 all of his own or the proceeds of its sale. 



A second purpose of garden work is to connect the home and 

 the school. It is only necessary to remark in passing, that too 

 long a great loss has been sustained on account of the lack of 

 co-operation between these two vital forces in the life of the 

 child. A means that promises to bring the home and the school 

 together in a closer sympathy and understanding can not fail to 

 commend itself to thoughtful people. 



Another point upon which most people are agreed is that the 

 school garden has a value from the economic point of view. While 

 the pupil derives no considerable profit from his garden, the sense 

 of ownership develops within him a bud of pride and independence 

 possible of flowering and fruiting into a strong, self-reliant spirit. 



A Continuous Factor of School Work. 

 In the light of what has just been vSaid, I take the position that 

 the garden work should be a continuous factor in the work of the 



*Paper read at meeting of School Garden Association of America, Atlanta, 

 Ga., Dec. 31, 1913- 



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