SCHOOL GARDEX REPORTS. 197 



of 1903 the experiment was tried of cultivating a portion of the school 

 grounds at Bartlett Street in Roxbury. This experiment was not a great 

 success for although the splendid shade trees thrived, because of the culti- 

 vation about their roots, the gardens did not. Accordinglj^ — for garden 

 work had become a fixture of the school — a lot, adjoining that of the 

 school and situated between rows of tenements, was purchased and here 

 there has been a good garden for three summers under the patronage of 

 a Garden Committee of the Industrial School. 



The garden plot is 54 X120 feet and is divided into 25 individual plots 

 arranged symmetrically as may be about a stone pile in the center of the 

 garden. A three-foot border for annuals and perennials surrounds the 

 garden on three sides. For the cultivation of this plot three classes each 

 week of two hours each have been found necessary. Thus each child 

 spends, under the supervision of the teacher, six hours a week in the cul- 

 tivation of Jiis garden. 



The care of the gardens has been untiring and in produce each child 

 reaped the result of his faithful work. A record of produce for the summer 

 of 1906 was kept and is submitted below: 



Lettuce, 358 heads; Carrots, 803; Beets, 578; Beans, 358 quarts; 

 Spinach, 61 quarts; Parsnips, 394; Parsley, 158 quarts; Kale, 103 quarts; 

 Kohlrabi, 332; Radishes, 243 dozen; Squash, 12; Pumpkins, 4. 



In connection with the school garden there have been started home 

 gardens and window boxes supervised by one of the Garden Committee. 

 The greatest interest has been taken by all the members of the class in 

 these home gardens which are surely deser\'ing in their aim to beautify 

 squalid surroundings with plants and flowers. 



On the same day as the fall exhibition of school gardens by the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society there was held in Roxbury an exhibit of 

 products of both school and home gardens. Individual prizes of books 

 on gardening, of tools, of plants and seeds were awarded to the three best 

 gardens of each group, namely, school and home gardens. 



Garden work has proved especially beneficial to children in Roxbury, 

 for so many must needs live in the congested tenement districts. To 

 foster the child's inherent sense of beauty, to teach him to do' useful work 

 with his hands, to get results and to appreciate these results, have been 

 the aims of the promoters and benefactors of this garden work at the South 

 End Industrial School. 



