924 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



August 30, 1006. 



trustees should familiarize himself with 

 the proposed methods, using some of 

 the fuller reports of some of the spe- 

 cially conducted schools of this nature, 

 to get a general idea of how the plots 

 are laid out and cared for near the 

 schools, or plots loaned by people at a 

 little distance from the school and the 

 home garden. 



If no trustee feels equal to this sim- 

 ple task he could easily call to his assist- 

 ance a florist, a market gardener, or 

 even a good farmer in the community, 

 to help start the work. If the teachers 

 lack in knowledge of any particular 

 subject they should be given to under- 

 stand that they could call upon the trus- 

 tee, who would find a person competent 

 to explain. 



A committee of the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society comments very fa- 

 vorably on the system of children's 

 home gardens, stating that the society 

 first offered three prizes, then ten, and 

 were much surprised when they received 

 over two hundred entries for the ten 

 awards. The committee visited the 

 home gardens as far as possible and 

 found it was very encouraging to the 

 children to do so. They state: "We 

 still feel the children's home garden 



plication of fertilizers and the planting 

 of each kind of seed, both of vegetable 

 and flowers. By this means the depth 

 and distance of planting seed of the 

 standard kinds can be easily learned by 

 the pupils. 



The demonstration plot could be used 

 throughout the season for simple talks, 

 during the growth of the plants, even to 

 the method of killing potato bugs. The 

 object of this demonstration plot is that 

 it may be used in connection with the 

 children's home garden system. All in- 

 struction and knowledge, as it were, 

 which the children carry home to use in 

 their gardens will come from this plot. 



State Teachers. 



The state might employ a few expe- 

 rienced garden directors or teachers to 

 visit as many schools during the year 

 as practicable. Schools should be able 

 to call for this special aid where the sub- 

 ject is not suflSciently understood. The 

 committee on school gardens of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 after investigation, says: "The great 

 lesson learned was that children's gar- 

 dens are successfully carried on when 

 under the leadership of an experienced 

 director or teacher. No matter how en- 



John Siebenthaler. 



(Who represents the Nursery Interests of Dayton.) 



movement is a very important one. ' ' 

 This committee also gives prizes in con- 

 nection with the home garden system 

 for best reports of work for the year. 



Your committee, in view of the re- 

 ports on these methods, suggests as an 

 intermediate plan, where conditions seem 

 to favor the method, a demonstration 

 plot in the school grounds, where the 

 teacher can fully demonstrate with each 

 pupil the preparation of the soil, the ap- 



thusiastically the work is undertaken, 

 without a proper understanding of gar- 

 dening it is usually a failure." The 

 same committee says : * * There is a cry- 

 ing need for an institution in this state 

 similar to that at Hartford, Conn., where 

 school garden work can be taught." 



In the course of time this study could 

 be added to the curriculum of all nor- 

 mal schools, as it already belongs to that 

 of several, these schools to furnish teach- 



ers with suflScient knowledge of the sub- 

 ject to follow the methods laid down. 



Lectures. 



In educational matter of the present 

 day, be it ever so low or so high, much 

 instruction is imparted to the pupils by 

 lectures and talks. In the rural schools 

 it is not absolutely necessary that the 

 talks or lectures should be given at speci- 

 fied periods. They could be worked in 

 at times best suited to the convenience 

 of the teacher. 



At most of these lectures, the teacher 

 should have one or two potted plants or 

 some flowers, and some varieties of the 

 common seeds; and it would not take 

 any great length of time, not more than 

 a year or two, perhaps, to make most of 

 the pupils familiar with the treatment of 

 the common and most useful plants. 



Appropriation for Carrying on the Work. 



In the matter of appropriations, all 

 the different kinds of school garden 

 work derive their financial aid from dif- 

 ferent sources, which is of necessity a 

 varying and somewhat uncertain amount. 

 For carrying on this work we want a 

 certain appropriation for each grade of 

 school. By way of illustration, but not 

 a suggestion we should say five dollars 

 each for the rural schools, ten for the 

 primary and grammar schools and 

 twenty for the union and high schools. 

 We confidently believe that even an 

 amount as small as this would be felt 

 in a community, but we feel that by cor- 

 relating garden work with other studies 

 the different boards of education would 

 appropriate a larger sum. 



But what must be made plain is that 

 the appropriation should be a fixed fac- 

 tor in the expense of conducting the 

 schools. 



Public Meetings- Children's Garden Confer- 

 ences. 



At least once a year there should be a 

 public meeting in the form of a con- 

 ference, where all persons interested 

 should be invited to come and make sug- 

 gestions, and lend their aid to this 

 movement. The children should have a 

 chance to talk a little on their ideas 

 and work. 



At a children's garden conference, De- 

 cember 2, 1905, under auspices of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 seven ten-minute addresses were called 

 for to give opportunity for discussion. 

 A unique feature of this meeting was a 

 model garden bed, illustrated by a prac- 

 tical exercise by a boy gardener and 

 teacher. This conference brought to- 

 gether many people interested and 

 proved a great success in more ways 

 than one. 



At meetings of this kind questions of 

 civic improvement and general better- 

 ment of surroundings could be discussed. 



Relation of School Gardens to Experiment 

 Stations and Agricultural Colleges. 



To some it may appear that the ex- 

 periment stations and agricultural col- 

 leges conflict or compete with our move- 

 ment. This is not the case. We should 

 be content to call ourselves the common 

 soldiers of this common cause, and we 

 should also be content to be officered by 

 experts from those institutions. They 

 commence at the top and work down. 

 "VVe are commencing at the bottom and 

 will work up. We wish to call on those 

 institutions for lecturers, demonstrators 

 and instructors. We can work hand in 



