SCHOOL GARDENS IN AMERICA 



petition with the boys, the real object being to 

 demonstrate the proper way of planting with- 

 out too much instruction. 



Simple lessons in the study of soils, in the 

 proper method of planting and of tillage are 

 given in a practical way that appeals to the in- 

 telligent interest of a boy, and he is taught to 

 do by doing. The boys sow beets with onions, 

 raise two crops of lettuce, three or four of 

 radishes, thus utilizing the soil at all seasons. 

 Peppers were planted with onions, beans and 

 peas; eggplants and cabbages, and cantaloups 

 with the cabbage. Tomatoes and potatoes were 

 raised. Turnips grew with the potatoes. Beans 

 were planted with the watermelons and har- 

 vested before the melons were grown. 



Each boy is entitled to the product of his 

 labor, and so abundant has been the harvest in 

 some instances, that one boy provided his entire 

 family of five with vegetables during the entire 

 season and cleared ^Ye dollars in money. He 

 won the first prize and a position in the fac- 

 tory, where he made himself so useful that at the 

 end of the first week his salary was advanced 

 fifty cents. When asked by the foreman where 

 he formed his habits of industry he promptly 

 replied, " In my years in the garden." The 

 testimony of a man thoroughly acquainted with 

 tlie work is that the children develop thirty per 



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