Preface 
Children take naturally to gardening, and few 
occupations count so much for their development, 
—mental, moral and physical. 
Where children’s garden clubs and community 
gardens have been tried, the little folks have 
shown an aptitude surprising to their elders, and 
under exactly the same natural, climatic con- 
ditions, the children have often obtained astonish- 
ingly greater results. Moreover, in the poor dis- 
tricts many a family table, previously unattractive 
and lacking in nourishment, has been made attrac- 
tive as well as nutritous, with their fresh green 
vegetables and flowers. 
Ideas of industry and thrift, too, are at the 
same time inculcated without words, and habits 
formed that affect their character for life. A 
well-known New York City Public School super- 
intendent once said to me that she had a flower 
bed every year in the children’s gardens, where 
a troublesome boy could always be controlled by 
giving to him the honor of its care and keeping. 
