213 



In this way it will keep the boys occupied or otherwise they would be on 

 the street learning nothing that was good and often sowing the seed of 

 future crime. The gardens should begin early, as soon as the frost is out 

 ■of the ground, the land should be thoroughly prepared, and they should 

 continue right through the summer. We should have the gardens from 

 frost to frost, and the best possible results not only from a horticultural 

 standpoint but from the development of body and character. It also has 

 a money value. The children learn something of industrj^ and are able to 

 work about the city, and take care of lawns and make themselves useful, 

 "thereby increasing the earning power of the family. 



School Garden Work ix Cleveland, Ohio. 



BY MISS LOUISE KLEIX MILLER, CURATOR OF SCHOOL GARDENS. 



Miss Miller told of the work which had been done by the Home Garden- 

 ing Association, in conjunction with the Board of Education, in inaugurat- 

 ing school gardening in Cleveland and spoke very enthusiastically of the 

 work which had been accomplished and which they expect to do in the 

 future. Cleveland aspires to be the most beautiful city in the country 

 and it is expected that the school gardening work will do much to bring 

 about this condition. The following abstract \\-ill give a good idea of 

 some phases of the work at the present time. 



The school garden work in Cleveland has now passed far beyond the 

 experimental stage. Up to this year all the time devoted to the garden 

 work has been out of school hours, but it is now planned to make the prac- 

 tical operations of the garden correlate with other branches of study. 



The study of soil formation; the relation of heat and moisture to soil; 

 the capillarity of soil; the weather record; the relation of plants and ani- 

 mals to .soil are all fundamental to the study of geography. 



A child who has laid out his garden with a tape measure, drawn it to 

 scale, and dug the soil, has a definite knowledge of lines, area and volumes. 

 The weighing and measuring of his products and its estimate in money 

 value, give a more vital significance to the study of compound denominate 

 numbers than any artificial device. The opportunity of doing rational 

 nature study in the garden is too apparent to need comment. 



The school garden work already accomplished has made Cleveland well 

 and favorably known in all parts of the countrj- where progressive work 

 is appreciated. 



The school garden movement was first inaugurated in 1904 by the estab- 

 lishment of four gardens, the expense being assumed jointly by the Home 

 Gardening Association and the Board of Education. This year the Board 

 •of Education assumed entire control and established eight gardens in dif- 



