2 SCHOOL AND HOME GARDENING 



Under a scheme which has taken the name of its first 

 supporters and become Icnown as the Macdonald Movement, 

 the first systematic plan for the establishment of school gar- 

 dens in connection with rural schools in America was started 

 in Canada by the Macdonald funds. School gardens were 

 officially encouraged by the provincial Department of Edifca- 

 tion and were made a part of the Provincial system of educa- 

 tion and in some provinces grew in favor. 



Normal schools, and colleges in all sections are now train- 

 ing teachers to carry on this kind of work in connection with 

 other subjects of the school. School gardens, or home gardens 

 by school pupils, are now organized in every part of the land. 

 That school gardening is a suitable part of the well-planned 

 school training for young people is now universally recognized. 

 Much credit is due to those pioneers who have brought this 

 condition of affairs about in the American systems of 

 education.^ 



Character of the Instruction. — The instruction in the 

 earliest school gardens varied widely in its character, each 

 following one or more of the following lines : 



1. In some there were penny packets of seeds distributed 

 to children of the schools in the spring. These were to be 

 planted at home and the products exhibited at the school in 

 the fall. Little or no supervision was given the gardens by 

 any instructor. Penny packets for school children are now 

 supplied by several dealers and associations of the country. 



2. More or less permanent home gardens, under direction 

 of supervisors and employed gardeners to give personal in- 

 struction. These might be with or without hotbeds and 

 coldframes. 



3. Vacant lot gardening, in congested sections of large 

 cities. See next chapter. 



* For further mention of the early development of school garden- 

 ing, reference is made to Chapter I, " Among School Gardens," by 

 M. Louise Green. 



