128 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:3— Mar., 1920 



that city trees contend with and care that the population should 

 give them. 



It remains now to provide teachers sufficient to cover the fifth 

 grades and to have a director for the work who can devote all of 

 his time to it. When this is accomplished the Washington school 

 children will have equal advantages with children in other large 

 cities of the United States in becoming acquainted with God's 

 great out-of-doors. 



^ GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, GARDEN CLUBS 



Grace M. Watson, Supervisor 

 Club work is a practical "back to the home, ""made in America'^ 

 type of education, so Grand Rapids has 73 clubs, in 35 public 

 and 16 parochial schools with a membership of 3,055 children. 

 The directors made 14,672 visits of inspection and gave 48 canning: 

 demonstrations. At two canning centers, i34>^ bushels of vege- 

 tables and 12% bushels of fruit were canned by teachers and 

 children. 



RICHMOND, VA., JAN. 15th, 1920 



Alvin L. Thomas, Director 



The school board appropriated funds to employ me as director 

 with six assistants to organize the garden work. I am the princi^ 

 pal of one of the schools in the city and the six assistants were 

 regular class room teachers. 



We worked out a plan for gardens at the schools where there 

 was ground enough and for gardens at the pupil's homes. At the 

 school gardens the pupils worked with the instructor once and twice 

 a week during school time and were given credit under manual 

 training. During the summer the instructor visited these gardens- 

 twice a week while the boys were at work. 



The boys were given one-half the produce from their plots in 

 the school gardens. The other half of the produce was sent to the 

 girls' canning clubs at the different schools. Here the girls, under 

 the supervision of a domestic science teacher, canned the produce 

 for use in the Open Air Grades and lunch counters which are 

 operated in the different schools of the city. About a thousand 

 jars of food were canned. 



In order to get the boys and girls interested in gardening at 

 home we followed a different plan. Letters were sent home by the 



