REPORTS FROM GARDEN SUPERVISORS 127 



as manual training is for seventh and eighth, viz. : regular school 

 work to which one and a half hours per week are assigned. Sum- 

 mer attendance is voluntary. For this reason at the two largest 

 gardens, Ross and the Ludlow gardens, the experiment was tried 

 of charging a nominal rent, fifteen cents (15c) per month for a plot 

 of 200 square feet. No better proof can be cited of the fact that 

 what people pay for and own they take better care of than that 

 which they get for nothing, than by comparing the attendance at 

 above named gardens with the smaller gardens where no rent was 

 charged. At the Ludlow, 6th and G streets, N. E., the average 

 attendance for the summer was 94.2 per cent. ; at the Ross Garden 

 73 per cent. These gardens were open four days per week. At 

 the Morgan and Force, two small gardens where no charge was 

 made for the use of the land and the gardens were open but one 

 day per week, the attendance was respectively 38 per cent, and 

 36 per cent. 



In addition to the above the schools were repsonsible for 16,203 

 home gardens, 11,080 in the white schools, 5,123 in the colored. 

 No record of the amount produced in these gardens can be obtained 

 until the appropriation warrants teachers for supervision of the 

 children's home gardens. 



This work has always been directed by the Normal School but 

 it is hoped that the schools are on the way toward an organized 

 department of nature study and gardening throughout the entire 

 graded system. A carefully planned course of study has been put 

 into the first four grades by the Director of Primary Instruction. 

 A corps of twelve teachers is systematically at work in the sixth, 

 seventh and eighth grades, visiting every school once in two weeks. 

 An economic trend is given to all of their lessons in the higher 

 grades. The sixth grade course covers the life histories of the 

 common garden insects with methods of control; common rocks 

 and derivative soils of the District of Columbia ; soil improvement 

 including water distribution and fertiUzers. Birds, the allies 

 of the gardener, make a popular course in the seventh grade. 

 This covers the identification of the common birds of the District, 

 an acquaintance with their calls and habits; making feeding 

 counters and nesting boxes. Trees of the District of Columbia 

 is the eighth grade unit. This covers identification of the city's 

 trees; the way trees grow; their insect inhabitants; difficulties 



