240 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAT. SOCIETY. 



Report of the South End Industrial School Garden, 

 RoxBURY, Mass. 



BY MISS S. MYRTA ABBOTT, TEACHER. 



There has been since 1902 a garden in connection with the South End 

 Industrial School; the first year the garden was in Medford, the second 

 year in the yard of the School at Roxburj^, and now for three years in a 

 lot adjoining the School in the midst of the crowded tenement district. 

 Situated as it is between a double row of tenements, this garden plot is 

 of more ser^-ice than can be estimated. All siunmer long it is a bright 

 spot of verdure and blossom and by careful manviring and enriching of 

 the soil it has been made to yield almost a hundred fold. 



The development in the surrounding tenements has been interesting to 

 watch. The vacant plot with the stone pile in the middle had been the 

 happy dumping ground for these tenements. And so the first year there 

 was a motley collection of tomato cans glowing in among the real tomatoes. 

 But the second year a change was noted; the tenement dwellers began 

 to use the back piazzas for a sort of open air sitting room. This past 

 summer the change has been almost complete. Porch curtains have been 

 put up and window boxes and stands of all sorts for plants have blossomed 

 forth into color. And the garden is unmolested! 



The garden plot 54 X 120 ft. is di^-ided into twenty-two plots each 12 X 

 15 ft. A stone pile is in the center of the garden and a three foot border 

 of perennials and annuals encloses the whole garden. New features this 

 year have been a great success. The stone pile was luxurious \\-ith nas- 

 turtiums planted in the soil in the top of the mound, in every crevice of its 

 sides, and at the base. Throughout the summer hardly a stone could be 

 seen the leaves and trailers were so luxuriant, and each week there was 

 a bushel of gorgeous blossoms. Golden glow and hollyhocks were set 

 against the brick and stone wall and were very effective with zinnias and 

 bachelor buttons and phlox and cosmos about the roots; the yellow mari- 

 golds banked against the golden glow and cosmos and rose zinnias against 

 the hollyhocks. Another new feature was the border one foot wide of 

 each child's favorite flower in his own garden. There were more flowers 

 this year than ever before and the keen enjoyment was sufficient excuse 

 for it. 



The vegetables grown were of uniform excellence. Each child had in 

 his garden a bordering edge of parsley, then a foot band of flowers flanked 

 by two rows of radishes, one row of lettuce, two rows of beets, three rows 

 of beans, and one row each of carrots, kohlrabi, parsnip, and New Zealand 

 spinach. Each child had also in his garden three tomato plants and 

 three cabbage plants. All this was managed by careful planning as to 

 succession of crops and by utilizing every available inch of space. Vacant 

 spaces were filled in with extra plants from the seed bed with lettuce, with 

 kohlrabi and with kale. 



