2 Gardening 
Mrs. Henry Parsons 
Fic. 2. School gardens were started in New York City in 1902, in connec- 
tion with the Park Department. This photograph was made in 1906, on the 
site of the first “school farm.” 
the entire state. The teaching of gardening has be- 
come widely recognized as an important part of the 
educational work of the public schools; the aims in 
teaching it and the best methods to be employed are 
now rather clearly defined. 
There seems to be general agreement that the primary 
purpose of school instruction in gardening is educational. 
But the instruction in the school aims also to encourage 
the making of home vegetable gardens whose chief func- 
tion is that of food production. Obviously, it is through 
the ‘combination of school and home activities that the 
educational values of gardening and its uses to the home 
‘are to be realized. 
Experience in the teaching of gardening seems to indi- 
‘cate clearly that the most successful teaching of the sub- 
