Gardening 



.W rv. Henry Parsons 



FIG. 2. School gardens were started in New York City in 1002, in connec- 

 tion with the Park Department. This photograph was made in 1906, on the 

 site of the first "school farm." 



the entire state. The teaching of gardening has be- 

 come widely recognized as an important part of the 

 educational work of the public schools ; the aims in 

 teaching it and the best methods to be employed are 

 now rather clearly denned. 



There seems to be general agreement that the primary 

 purpose of school instruction in gardening is educational. 

 But the instruction in the school aims also to encourage 

 the making of home vegetable gardens whose chief func- 

 tion is that of food production. Obviously, it is through 

 the combination of school and home activities that the 

 educational values of gardening and its uses to the home 

 are to be realized. 



Experience in the teaching of gardening seems to indi- 

 cate clearly that the most successful teaching of the sub- 



