134 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



October, 1905 



The same reasons that prevent the man- 

 agers from offering regular courses of garden 

 work prevent them from holding out rewards 

 for those who attend the school regularly. 

 There is no examination, no diploma, no 

 graduation day. The school was not in- 

 tended to turn out qualified gardeners; it was 

 planned to take the boys off the streets, give 

 them something to do that would interest 

 them, and at the same time let them see that 

 it was within their power to contribute to 

 the family support. And that end it reaches. 



WONDERFUL IMPROVEMENT IN CONDUCT 



But here it may be said that the teachers in 

 the public and parochial schools report that 

 the boys of the garden school are the best 

 under their care; that their conduct is better, 

 their standing in class higher, their intelli- 

 gence and powers of observation more highly 

 developed, on the average, than that of their 

 fellows who are not able to attend the school. 

 This is really only natural; for the boys have 

 to "toe the mark" as well as hoe the line. 

 Discipline almost military is imposed on 

 them — and they like it. They get their tools 

 and books from the clerk when they come to 

 work, and each boy is responsible for every- 

 thing he takes from the office to his plot. He 

 must make up his memorandum book daily 

 before going home, must return the tools he 

 has used to their proper places in the tool 

 house — it is only to replace the tools that he 

 is permitted to enter that place, by the way. 

 The tools are issued to him through a win- 

 dow; but he must put them back himself. 



So well has the system worked that no boy 

 has been expelled. Nor has any case of theft 

 been known among the boys of die school. 

 They come from the same class of chaps 

 that supplies the larger proportion of pick- 

 pockets, sneak thieves and petty criminals; 

 but their work in the garden school has thus 

 far given them a start which seems to have 

 kept them clear from the temptations which 

 beset the poor boy in a large manufacturing 

 town. 



"What do you make at your public 



dint 



Y-:-T: H 



M 





i H > ■ m 



*'l 



210. The garden school at YonKers on May 1, 1904 

 school, this school continues throughout the 



schools ? " asked a German of an Englishman 

 — he had mixed up his English verbs "to 

 make" and "to do." 



"Men," answered the Englishman. The 

 same answer seems to be proper in connection 

 with the Yonkers garden school. 



The example of the Yonkers school has 

 been studied by other places. In Orange, 

 N. J., a garden school was started this year; 



211. In the shade of his own corn 



212. The garden school on August 1st, showing the beauty and attractiveness of well-grown vegetables. The 

 girls prefer to grow flowers : the boys liKe vegetables better, especially cabbage 



■tr 



. UnliKe either the typical school garden or vacation 

 entire growing season, from April to October 



and Montclair, N. J., is considering the ques- 

 tion of having one. Orange is a manufac- 

 turing town of about the same size and kind 

 as Yonkers, so that its experiment is made 

 under much the same conditions. 



The question of expense naturally arises. 

 The actual cost of maintaining the Yonkers 

 school during the first year in its present 

 situation was $1,532.02, accounted for as 

 follows: 



WHAT THE YEAR'S WORK COSTS 



Portable house (i I x 20 feet) $265.40 



Installing water 51 .28 



Tools: 



50 hoes $16.67 



50 rakes 16.88 



50 weeding irons 7-4° 



24 watering pots 1 o . 60 



12 boys' spades 12.00 



1 wheelbarrow 3-5° 



2,000 feet garden line 3 .00 



25 feet rubber hose 5.00 



Other tools used in laying out garden, 



etc 20 . 1 7 



95.22 



Rent of land 35 .00 



Fertilizer 39. 00 



Seeds 30.00 



Stationery, printing, etc.: 



300 notebooks $15.82 



Membership cards, etc 8.75 



300 badge buttons 10.00 



26 award badges 5°4 



39.61 



Stakes and labels 18.41 



Flag, rollbook, blackboard, etc 8 .79 



Repairing fence 5 .00 



Superintendent's salary 600 . 00 



Clerk and assistant, for the season 95-33 



Laborer's wages, for the season 249.00 



Total . . . $1,532.02 



The value of the produce raised, computed 

 at market rates, was $1,200. 



The items of rent, water rates and salaries 

 would vary in each place; the others may be 

 taken as practically fixed. Some of them, of 

 course, are in the nature of investments, while 

 still others will have to be met each year. 

 But, altogether, $1,500 is not much for a city 

 to pay to make men out of its street boys. 



Of course, when the board of education of 

 a city feels that it can undertake the man- 

 agement of garden schools, it is advisable that 

 it should do so; there is then no chance that 

 the work should even appear to be a chari- 

 table operation. That is the custom in Ger- 

 many, where the idea of such schools origi- 

 nated. But where the educational authori- 

 ties do not undertake the work, private enter- 

 prise is properly employed; and experience 

 has shown that the city authorities sooner or 

 later will express a wish to have public garden 

 schools of their own. 



