CHILDREN'S GARDENS EVERYWHERE 



RESULTS SUCH AS ARE SHOWN HERE 

 THIS MONTH ARE THE OUTGROWTH 

 OF CONDITIONS, NOT EXTREME NOR 

 UNUSUAL, WHICH REQUIRE TIME, COUR- 

 AGE AND BELIEF IN ONE'S WORK. 



Conducted by 



ELLEN EDDY SHAW 



New York 



THIS month you will all be eager to 

 read about the work of those who 

 won the group prizes and why they won over 

 others. Next year we shall make a rather 

 different classification. For as the results 

 came in, and as we inspected many gardens, 

 it was very plain to be seen that while gar- 

 dens of but one or two years' start were 

 good gardens, these could not possibly win 

 in a race against those of years' steady growth. 

 For example, the garden at Poughkeepsie, 

 N. Y., was a splendid piece of work for the 

 first year. It was an 

 unusually good gar- 

 den, partly because 

 it was made on a 

 piece of ground which 

 had been for years 

 used for the same 

 purpose, and so lent 

 itself easily again to 

 the growth of vege- 

 tables and flowers, 

 and partly because it 

 was well managed. 

 This last is worth 

 just briefly mention- 

 ing, for the benefit of 

 those wishing to start 

 work next spring. A 

 man who knows how 

 children should gar- 

 den, was engaged for 

 three days of each 

 week during the en- 

 tire summer. The other days the work was 

 supervised by committees of ladies from 

 those who stood behind the work. 



Flushing, Long Island, had a first year 

 garden connected with one of its public 

 schools. Next year this garden will be one 

 to look out for in the race. 



Another garden of the first year class was 

 that of New Paltz, (N. Y.) State Normal 

 School. New Paltz had a garden before, 

 but because of a new school site was obliged 

 to begin all over again. More discouraging 

 than this was the fact that it was impossible 

 to get into form the permanent garden spot 

 for this year's work. Did New Paltz go 

 without a garden? Not much; she made a 

 temporary one on a stubborn old slope of 

 land. 



Before taking up the prize-winners let us 

 look again at the conditions so we may have 



all things in mind. The group prizes fell 

 into three divisions. They were to be 

 awarded to the school or association showing: 



A. The best display of garden products at 

 its mid-summer or fall exhibit. 



B. The finest looking garden irrespective 

 of amount of product. 



C. The greatest improvement of school 

 grounds or unsightly spots under the direct 

 care of contestants. 



The prize offered in each division was a 

 complete set of The Nature Library. This 



De Witt Clinton Park 



garden won on general appearance, 

 suggestive to others 



is a prize worth a whole school's work, 

 because it means not only fifteen books 

 added to the library, but also books which 

 can be used right in the class rooms. 

 And because of this, many schools com- 

 peted. A teacher from Beaver Dam, 

 Virginia, came personally to see us with 

 the plan of her school garden to show us. 



Where unsightly old buildings once stood the 

 Tracy School children now plant cannas 



24 



Division A 



The prize-winner in this class was the Fairview 

 Garden, Yonkers, N. Y. 



In this garden about seven hundred boys and 

 girls work. They not only plant and dig, but 

 learn, too, of garden pests and garden helps along 

 with considerably more of Nature work. I wish 

 every boy and girl and all the teachers and mothers, 

 too, might see this garden. It is a garden where 

 good products are raised and where things are done 

 in fine business shape. The garden was established 

 by a committee of women who are banded together 

 for this one purpose. But its management and care 

 is under the direction of one man, who knows plants 

 and children as well. 

 There was no question 

 concerning the prize- 

 winner in this class; the 

 Fairview Garden just 

 walked off with the prize. 

 The next in order in this 

 class were two Massa- 

 chusetts cities, Waltham 

 and Marlborough. Wal- 

 tham Fall Show rep- 

 resented the work of the 

 public schools of that 

 city. A fine feature of 

 this exhibit was its care- 

 ful arrangement. Marl- 

 borough's exhibit was 

 under the auspices of the 

 School and Home Asso- 

 ciation. Especially to be 

 noted with praise in this 

 case is the breadth of 

 work done and also the 

 carefully prepared mater- 

 ial sent in for competi- 

 tion purposes. It is also 

 of interest that connected 

 with the Marlborough 

 work are 1000 gardens. 



Division B 



The prize-winner of B Division was the De Witt 

 Clinton Park Garden, of New York City. This 

 is a garden right in the heart of the city, a spot that 

 is a real garden for people living in hot, cramped 

 quarters, where green things growing are rarely seen. 

 This garden was founded and is directed by Mrs. 

 Henry Parsons. A quotation from one of Mrs. 

 Parsons' writings tells a little of this splendid gar- 

 den work: "The seven years of the existence of the 

 children's school farm in De Witt Clinton Park, 

 Fifty-fourth Street and Eleventh Avenue, New 

 York City, has given definite, conclusive proof of 

 the vast use to which a plot of ground 250 x 135 feet 

 in size can be put. There is more happiness to the 

 square inch in this piece of ground than anywhere 

 else in the world. The plan upon which this gar- 

 den in New York is conducted has made it possible, 

 at a conservative estimate, for 4,326 adults and 

 children to derive profit, pleasure and health from 

 April 1st to October 24th. Of this number, 150 

 were crippled children; 400 babies and younger 

 brothers and sisters who came with the 'little 

 farmers,' and 500 registered visitors. " 



Its arrangement is very simple and 



