SCHOOL GARDENS IN AMERICA 



extended and excellent results have already been 

 secured. Interest in this movement is growing 

 and has the approval of all who are interested 

 in educational and sociological progress. 



Schools in Canada are beginning to study 

 gardening on broad scientific lines. Men have 

 been sent by the Department of Education to 

 some of the best colleges and universities of the 

 United States to be thoroughly trained for this 

 most important work. Large areas of land 

 have been devoted to this purpose. The school 

 laws of the West Indies also include extensive 

 plans for school gardens. 



Boston has been a pioneer in the school-gar- 

 den movement, and has succeeded effectively 

 along many lines. The work was instituted 

 twenty-five years ago by some philanthropic 

 persons of Boston who petitioned the Horticul- 

 tural Society to assume the responsibility of 

 organizing a committee whose duty should be 

 to try, if possible, to mitigate the hard and 

 dreary life conditions of poor people, by intro- 

 ducing some " sweetness and light." The com- 

 mittee was supplied with all the money neces- 

 sary for carrying on the work, and permitted 

 to use the seal of the society on its circulars, 

 thus beginning with good financial, scientific 

 and moral backing. The committee undertook 

 at once the English custom of window-garden- 



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