104 MASSACHUSETTS HOKTICULTLKAL SOCIETY. 



Society mij^ht take such a school directly under its auspices. The 

 meetiug referred to resulted in the estahlishment, by private sub- 

 scription, for very much the same reasons as had been suggested 

 by the essayist, of a horticultural school for women. An estate 

 was hired in Newton, and Mr. Charles Barnard was appointed 

 principal of the school. The greatest lack of the school was 

 pupils, the largest number at any time being twelve, although 

 the school had a fund of 85,000 to give assistance to those who 

 needed. The same difficulty has been found in obtaining pupils for 

 horticultural schools for boys, and indeed at all industiial schools ; 

 and here the further disadvantage was Iclt of its being a new 

 thing. The school was not made too public lest it should attract 

 those who had no earnest purpose. One of the pupils al for- 

 wards had a greenhouse in Brookline. Last year the trust was 

 given up, and the funds were transferred by authority of the 

 Legislature to the Institute of Technology to found the Joy Schol- 

 arship for women, the income going to help needy girls who study 

 there. The speaker considered that the time had not arrived for 

 special horticultural schools, but that they must be preceded by a 

 general training in science. When the Bussey Institution was 

 opened, with classes in horticulture for both sexes, this school was 

 closed. Every effort was made to induce young women to attend, 

 but it met with very little success. Neither do young men come 

 to the Bussey Institution ; there are now only three pupils there. 

 A few ladies who wished to learn about the culture of house plants 

 have attended the lectures. Under these circumstances the Di- 

 rectors of the School of Horticulture for Women did not think it 

 best to appeal to the Legislature or the public for further funds, 

 and as before mentioned the school was closed. The committee 

 having charge of the fund had very little opportunity to expend 

 the income in aiding pupils at the Bussey Institution, as no one 

 applied for entrance there. Professor Watson said that a boy 

 would not be much more valuable in a greenhouse for having at- 

 tended the Bussey School. 



Leverett M. Chase, Master of the Dudley School, District of 

 Roxbury, considered the subject one of the most important dis- 

 cussed by the Society. In his long and wide experience he had 

 become acquainted with a multitude of mothers, and he was filled 

 with anxiety as he saw so many living in a kind of social bondage — 

 a life almost purely artificial and useless. With very many, rubies 



