194 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The School Farm at De Witt Clinton Park. 



BV HENRY G. PARSONS, NEW YORK CITY. 



Our work in New York City is not connected with the schools directly. 

 It is under the Park Department, and, therefore, by the laws of New York 

 City, we are not allowed to teach. The work is strictly recreation work 

 because it is in the Park. Those employed in the work are called attend- 

 ants, not teachers, and when some of the would be teachers came in the 

 spring looking for positions they were very much surprised at the ques- 

 tions they were asked, and probably a few of the questions would interest 

 you. They knew it was gardening and they thought, perhaps, they would 

 be asked some questions in horticulture, and they were, but when they 

 were asked if they knew how to wash windows; if they knew how to sew; 

 if they could cook; if they knew anything about sanitation or hygiene; 

 if they had studied physical geography; their breath was taken away and 

 they naturally wanted to know why so much was expected, and I thought 

 you would be interested in our view-point. 



The person in charge of the garden should have either an agricultural 

 or horticultural training, either from a school or college or from actual 

 experience in commercial work, for it will help matters very much. But 

 it is not absolutely essential, for that kind of information you can get from 

 a great many people. It is better that the head of the work be of the 

 kind that knows how to acquire information. Gardeners and florists are 

 always enthusiasts about their work and usually quite willing to give 

 helpful advice. A man or woman may be a good gardener and yet not 

 suited to run a children's garden. The persons who get along best with 

 the children and who get the most out of the garden for the children, are 

 jacks-of-all-trades. If a person has known poverty and has been forced 

 to do things with their hands by their own efforts, if they have had to do 

 with the things of life, and, at the same time, they are educated people 

 and they connect these things with life's problems, they are able to place 

 the garden and its connection with life in general before the children as 

 nobody else can. 



In our garden we do all these things. The second year we established 

 a tiny farmhouse in connection with the garden, and so introduced the 

 spirit of the home in the play. If a teacher cannot cook, and does not 

 know something, it need not be much, of the question of nutrition, and 

 what the simple vegetables of the child's plot are expected to furnish us 

 when placed upon our tables, how far can she go with practical information 

 in an.swering a child's questions. Indeed she will not be able to stir the 

 child's mind to the questioning point. If the teacher has only that class 

 of information which is obtained under the head of nature study they are 

 able to talk about how a bean sprouts; but if they have been fortunate 



