GARDENING 



CHAPTER ONE 



OBJECTIVES AND METHODS l 



A school garden worth the name is not a teacher's gar- 

 den, or a philanthropist's garden, but a garden worked out 

 in thought and act by happy, purposeful children. 



DORA WILLIAMS 



PROBABLY the first systematic elementary instruction 

 in gardening in the United States was given at Roxbury, 

 Massachusetts, in the year 1891 in the school conducted 

 by Mr. H. L. Clapp. Eleven years later (1902) Mrs. 

 Henry Parsons started the first children's " school farm " 

 in New York City in connection with the Park Depart- 

 ment. Since then, gardening in one form or another 

 has become a part of the education and training of chil- 

 dren in many cities. Recently, under the stimulus of 

 the war-time necessity for increased food production, 

 various national, state, city, and other agencies through- 

 out the United States joined in efforts to provide instruc- 

 tion in gardening, especially in connection with the 

 schools. According to records collected by the United 

 States Bureau of Education from 2258 towns and cities, 

 at the close of 1919 there were 2,500,000 pupils enrolled 

 in the garden work. 



In some states the instruction is more or less organized 

 for the entire state, and in at least one state, New Hamp- 

 shire, there has been adopted a definite plan for teaching 

 gardening to all children in the elementary schools of 



1 This opening chapter is intended for teachers and school officials 

 and is not for study by pupils. 



i 



