222 massachusetts horticultural society. 



Report of the Cobbet School Garden, Lynn, Mass. 



BY PHILIP EMERSON, PRINCIPAL. 



First Prize, 1905. 



We herein make report upon the Cobbet School gardens for the year 

 1905 now drawing to a close ; and we are happy that we can report nota- 

 ble advances in the development of our plans. Photographs of the garden 

 and papers illustrating the relation of the gardens to ordinary school work 

 accompany the report. 



The garden continues to expand. The past spring the last of the two 

 hundred dollars' worth of soil was placed in generously deep trenches along 

 remaining borders of the yards. The great pile of stones, gravel, and ashes 

 excavated by the boys to make room for soil is soon to be removed by the 

 city. This autumn the garden has spread beyond the school bounds. A 

 large propagating bed for hardy perennial flov/ering plants has been made 

 and planted in one neighbor's yard next the boys' playground, while an 

 eighth-acre of sod in the yard adjoining the girls' playground is about to 

 be manured and ploughed for use in individual plots next spring. 



Training in garden work continues to broaden until it is now active at 

 all seasons. During the past summer the garden w^as thoroughly cul- 

 tivated and weeded throughout the vacation season under the principal's 

 immediate supervision. Seeds have been planted during eveiy month 

 from April to October and every bed has been constantly occupied. The 

 harvest commenced in May and will not be fully marketed until December. 

 When the season opened a two-sash cold frame was in use. This Septem- 

 ber the School Committee built the frames for ten more sash, while the 

 sash themselves were bought with receipts from the sale of school garden 

 products. The frames are now full of seedlings of hardy perennials (over 

 sixty varieties) and of salad crops that will mature at Christmas. In the 

 school basement a mushroom bed is being started under the guidance of a 

 successful amateur and this will continue the harvest yntil slips and seed- 

 lings for another year's gardens fill the class room windows. 



Our school gardens are respected as never before. Hostile criticism 

 has ceased and the interest and approval of citizens is more marked. 

 Moreover, while many flowers and vegetables were stolen last year, there 

 have been almost no depredations during the present season, although 

 the products have been more tempting. Past perseverance has been 

 rewarded and the value of patient continuance in well doing has been 

 ePfectively taught the pupils. 



