214 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ferent parts of the city. Owing to the lateness of the season and the un- 

 prepared condition of the soil, planting was not begun in some instances 

 until the last of June and there were many difficulties to overcome. 



The object is to make the school grounds and gardens radiating centers 

 for civic improvement. 



Children's Garden Exhibitions. 



BY ADIN A. HIXON, WORCESTER, MASS. 



The first exhibition of children's school gardens that I remember was a 

 little more than 50 years ago. At that time I attended school in Dedham, 

 and Mr. Richardson, afterward editor of the Boston Congregationalist, 

 was the teacher of the school. We had a large school yard of about an 

 acre or an acre and a half, and it was at Mr. Richardson's suggestion that 

 we had a garden. The boys had a large yard to play in with room for a 

 ball ground next to the schoolhouse, and a chestnut and oak grove on the 

 other side. The girls also had a large yard where there were plenty of 

 shade trees, although these were not too thick to admit the sun in the 

 morning. Their yard was separated from adjoining property by a high 

 board fence and the teacher suggested that we make a garden alongside 

 of this. 



The fence was some 200 feet long and we made a garden about 100 feet 

 long and four or five feet wide. It was Mr. Richardson's idea that the 

 boys should make the garden and we set to work filling it with various 

 plants that the children brought from their homes. The boys did all the 

 digging, wheeled away the stones, and brought the dressing in wheel- 

 barrows. 



The boys at that school took much pride in this garden and cared for 

 it faithfully that year and the next. What became of it after that I don't 

 know as I left school the next year. Not only did the boys take good care 

 of the garden but they began to take some pride in the school yard, carted 

 away the stones and cleaned it up generally. 



While I am a believer in school gardens in certain ways, I do not believe 

 in a society like the Worcester County Horticultural Society offering prizes 

 for school gardens until they are endorsed by the school committee, or that 

 that body at least gives its consent to them. 



The first school in Worcester to arouse interest among the pupils was 

 the Upsala street school, where Principal Miss Mary C. Henry interested 

 her pupils and teachers to an unusual degree. The teachers at this school 

 gave the pupils of several grades seeds of the bachelor's button, nastur- 

 tiums, and petunias, which they were allowed to take home and plant. 

 Just before the close of school they were requested to bring the products 



