SCHOOL AND HOME 

 GARDENING 



PART I 

 OUTLOOK TO GARDENING 



CHAPTER I 

 BEGINNINGS AND AIMS 



Historical. — It is difficult to discover the first effort to 

 introduce elementary school gardening into the United States, 

 but it probably was made by the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society. In 1890 Mr. H. L. Clapp, of Eoxbury, was sent by 

 this society to Europe to make a study of school gardens in 

 Germany, Belgium, England, France, and elsewhere. As a 

 result of his investigation, Mr. Clapp started a school garden 

 at his own school the next year. 



From this small beginning has grown the strong belief 

 that children of all schools should, if possible, be given some 

 helpful instruction in the use of their natural surroundings, 

 which will give them both pleasure and profit. That this can- 

 be accomplished through school gardens has since been well 

 demonstrated in hundreds, even thousands, of schools in 

 America. 



Boston and Detroit both made early use of school gardens 

 to train children. Cleveland and Philadelphia followed very 

 promptly. Minneapolis and New York City should both be 

 credited with the introduction of many new features. 



The pioneer work along this line in Dayton, Ohio, was 

 started in the schools a,nd among the boys of the city through 

 the efforts of the president of the National Cash Eegister 

 Company. This began in 1897. 



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