176 CHILDREN'S GARDENS 



will become a clearing house for kindly actions and 

 interesting information. A visiting gardener will 

 offer suggestions and carry away an idea. Cooks 

 will tell you new ways of preparing vegetables. All 

 sorts and conditions of men will take a few minutes 

 at noon or night, to walk by the garden and see the 

 interesting observation plots. Broom corn and pea- 

 nuts are common enough as brooms, or on the ven- 

 dor's stand, but amazing growing in a plot, and when 

 the garden wants a box, or sawdust, or tin cans, or 

 some other simple thing, these men can tell where to 

 get them, and will often bring them to you. 



There is no citizen so humble, but what his interest 

 and good will are desirable, and no man in a com- 

 munity is so powerful, that the welfare of the children 

 is not of importance to him. 



In the country schools, it will bring the farmers 

 and their wives in closer touch with the young teacher, 

 who is striving to help their children. She has been 

 trained to teach, but they have much practical kno\yl- 

 edge gained in the school of life which they can bring 

 to her aid, for the children's sake, and they can bring 

 assistance in preparing the ground, fence materials, 

 seeds and when to plant them, the loan of tools, how 

 to use the product, and the moral support of earnest 

 good wishes. 



In the city gardens, friendly fire departments help 

 with the watering, and departments of parks, health, 

 and street cleaning, have many resources available to 

 those who seek them for the good of the children. 



