REPORT OF COMMITTEE OX CHILDREN'S GARDENS. 229 



Surely one has but to study the school-garden movement and its 

 results to become an enthusiast. 



Children's Garden Conference. 



The third School Garden Conference was held December 14th 

 and considering the adverse weather was well attended. Those 

 who came were enthusiastic and interested and had we had more 

 favorable weather it is safe to say that the audience would have 

 been nearly twice as large as -at any previous conference. 



In arranging the program for this conference it was desired to 

 bring out as much as possible the relation of nature study and school 

 gardening and our speakers were well qualified to discuss these 

 matters. Unfortunately, owing to illness, two addresses, one by 

 Mr. Edward V. Hallock, who was to talk on Horticulture in Public 

 Schools, and the other by Miss McCloskey of Cornell University, 

 had to be omitted. The program as given contained four 

 addresses: The Relation of School Gardens to Nature Study, by 

 Miss Stebbins, Supervisor of Nature Study at Springfield; Natural 

 Science Gardens, by Principal Boyden of the State Normal School 

 at Bridgewater; School Gardens in Institutions, by Miss Fletcher, 

 Superintendent of the Orphans' Home, New Bedford; and The 

 Amherst Summer School, by Mr. Thomas Curley of the Waltham 

 Home Garden Association, Waltham. Mr. Curley spoke most 

 enthusiastically of the work of our committee. 



An excellent display of photographs and drawings was made at 

 the conference, a large part of which came from the Lynn Public 

 Schools. The conference was presided over by your chairman who 

 after reviewing the work of the year announced the prizes for school 

 gardens, school grounds, and home gardens. Abstracts of the ad- 

 dresses are given in connection with this report. 



School Gardens. 



There were entered this year for prizes twenty-eight school 

 gardens, not only a larger number than last year but over a more 

 extended area. It was most difficult in awarding prizes to some of 



