24 



SCHOOL AND HOME GARDENING 



Gardening for All Classes. — Vacant lot gardening is not 

 primarily intended for any one class of people ; nor is it merely 

 a form of charity. All classes engage in it. Those dependent 

 upon charity may be benefited more than others, but the bene- 

 fits are of so many forms that all classes are interested in the 

 work. Children of self-supporting families; cripples needing 

 out-door exercise; those affected with constitutional disease, 

 and other invalids ; old men and women ; indeed whole families 

 of all classes find different reasons for engaging in vacant lot 



Fig. 11. — Work of the Playground Association of Pittsburgh, Pa. Gardening ia 



as valuable as playing. (Children's Flower Mission.) 



gardening. It may add to their health, to their happiness, or 

 to their income. 



The products may be used at home or sold to others in the 

 neighborhood. In some families organized plans for produc- 

 ing and selling are found ; the older members doing the work 

 and producing the most intensive and valuable forms of gar- 

 den products. The young members solicit orders and deliver 

 the products. Imagine the change in feeling experienced by 

 a widow with five children : she was formerly receiving money 

 from the city, when by gardening she was able to support her- 

 self and family with no outside aid. 



