180 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



during the year and our three years' experiment has shown us that 

 a different method is needed. Next year our awards are to be 

 given to organizations managing children's home gardens and not 

 to the children themselves. This money may then be distributed 

 in the form of prizes to the children most faithful in their work 

 which can be easily determined by local inspectors or may go into 

 the general expense account. 



Our difficulties were as follows. First; of the large number of 

 gardens entered but few could receive prizes. Second; the great 

 distribution of the gardens over a large territory made it practically 

 impossible to \dsit all of the gardens even once during the season. 

 Third; where so many children were involved it is very difficult 

 to get them to send in a letter describing the garden as shown from 

 the few reports received as compared with the entries; and lastly, 

 the money awarded becomes so widely distributed that in most 

 cases it does comparatively little good towards carrying on the 

 home garden movement. We think these difficulties ^^^ll be 

 overcome by treating directly with the organizations that carry 

 on the home garden work. It is as difficult to make children of 

 the ages desired carry on gardening as anything else unless kept 

 up to it by some older person. It is not that they do not love the 

 work but they must be encouraged and told how to do it. We 

 wish therefore to encourage Woman's Clubs, Improvement Asso- 

 ciations, and other organizations to take up home garden work. 



We have increased the number of prizes to be awarded at our 

 children's exhibition and will in this way award the children directly 

 for their efforts. Some school garden letters follow. 



Children's Exhibitions. 



Two children's exhibitions were held this year, one in July and 

 one in September. The July exhibition was held in the small 

 exhibition hall filling two long tables and a portion of the side 

 tables. We were very much surprised at the amount of material 

 brought in and were in every way satisfied with the experiment 

 which we were trying. It was a good beginning and made us 

 hope for better results later on. 



