268 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January, 1912 



the large school yard and contains seventy- 

 two garden beds each ten by five feet, sur- 

 rounded by a. beautiful lawn and all en- 

 closed with fine shrubbery. In the spring 

 months early .'vegetables such as lettuce, 

 onions, radishes and beans are grown, and 

 by the end of June these are succeeded by 

 tiny plants of hardy annuals — such as 

 cosmos, nasturtiums, salvia, candytuft 

 dahlias, asters, poppies, verbenas and 

 larkspur. 



The Board of Education of Dayton has 

 purchased about an acre and one half of 

 land for trees and garden purposes. 

 At present there are planted about 500 

 trees, of twenty-eight different varieties. 

 During the summer there were 135 boys 

 and girls from the fourth to eighth grades 

 each having a vegetable garden 8x18 feet. 

 There were about 210 flower gardens. 



In Sandusky the City Federation of 

 Woman's Clubs distributes seeds each 

 spring and in the fall holds an exhibition 

 of products. Prizes are awarded for best 

 flowers and vege- 

 tables. Last spring 

 a vacant lot was 

 loaned to one school 

 for a garden and the 

 Board of Education 

 fenced and plowed 

 it. The garden con- 

 tained about one 

 hundred plots and 

 was very success- 

 ful. 



The school gar- 

 dens maintained by 

 the Woman's Club 

 of Toledo have been 

 placed under the 

 direction of the 

 Board of Educa- 

 tion. 



There is a garden 

 for each school in 

 Piqua, O. One boy 

 made $100 from his 



plot and spent $60 for a cow for his 

 mother and put $40 in the bank. 



Garden work of some kind is being 

 undertaken in many cities of the state but 

 at present there is no organization and there 

 is not the official recognition the friends of 

 the movement expect in the near future. 



The work in Cleveland began in 1904 

 under the joint auspices of the Home 

 Gardening Association and Board of Edu- 

 cation. There were four small gardens 

 that year. In 1905 a Department of 

 School Gardens was created by the Board 

 of Education under the direction of a 

 Curator; the only position of its kind in 

 the country. It was a logical and rational 

 step to take. Since that time there have 

 been gardens for normal children, back- 

 ward children, defective children, kinder- 

 garten children, crippled children. At one 

 time an exchange garden was maintained 

 from which one summer 25,000 plants were 

 given to the home gardens, and 25,000 to 

 the school gardens. A kitchen garden 

 afforded seventeen domestic science classes 



the opportunity to raise the vegetables 

 they used in the cooking classes. The 

 kitchen was operated during the summer 

 with excellent results. The domestic 

 science work is a most important and 

 culminating feature of the school garden 

 work. 



Last winter sixty illustrated lectures 

 were given in the schools by the Curator, 

 giving specific directions for preparing and 

 planting gardens. She also has charge of 

 all the landscape gardening for the beauti- 

 fying of the school grounds. 



The Board of Education maintains the 

 Willard School Farm on the grounds of the 

 West Side Technical High School. The 

 Home Gardening Association has continued 

 its work inaugurated some time ago — ■ 

 the training garden, vacant lot gardens 

 and home gardens. There were more than 

 30,000 house gardens last year. 



The Garden Festival is the display of 

 products from the various garden agencies 

 of the city, and the products this year 



The children of Cleveland find a real incentive for garden work in their kitchen gardens which supply the 



material for the cooking classes 



would have been a credit to professional 

 gardeners . The work has passed beyond the 

 stage of probation, and is now a recognized 

 factor in the educational, economic and 

 civic factor in the Forest City. 

 Cleveland, O. Louise Klein Miller. 



Curator of School Gardens. 



A Boy's Garden Record for 191 1 



TN GIVING my garden record I wish to 

 *■ say that my expenses were rather 

 high this year because of several things 

 which I needed. Instead of selling my 

 produce I used what I could of it at home 

 and the rest I gave to my neighbors. I 

 have tried to keep an accurate account of 

 all my things and all that came from the 

 garden I have estimated at grocery prices 

 which I obtained by calling the grocer on 

 the telephone. This I did in order to see 

 how much difference it would make in our 

 family expenses during the summer. 



This spring I built a hotbed and had 

 quite good success for my first trial. I 



raised my own tomato plants, aster plants 

 and radishes in this box. It was six by 

 three feet. I gave away eight dozen of 

 my tomato plants which were selling at the 

 florist's for fifteen cents per dozen. I also 

 kept thirty-six plants for my own garden. 

 My asters I kept for my own and had a 

 little over three dozen which were worth 

 at the time about twenty-five cents per 

 dozen. My radishes did not develop very 

 well but I had a few which were good. 



I now come to the garden proper. I 

 planted two rows of wax beans twenty 

 feet long and one row of green beans. From 

 this I received about ninety cents worth of 

 produce according to the store prices. I 

 also had two rows of beets which would 

 have netted me the sum of $1.10. I put 

 out thirty-six tomato plants, but owing 

 to blight many of the blossoms dropped off 

 early in the season. Later the tomatoes 

 began to ripen at the time when they were 

 worth eighteen cents per pound and have 

 yielded up to the present time. I had 

 quite a few green 

 ones on the vines in 

 late fall, which in all 

 I think would make 

 about a bushel. I 

 planted seven rows 

 of corn, three Early 

 and four Evergreen. 

 From the three rows 

 of Early corn which 

 were twenty-five 

 feet long I picked 

 fifty-four ears but 

 the other corn was 

 attacked by cut 

 worms and therefore 

 I did not have as 

 many ears as I 

 should have had. In 

 all I think there were 

 about fifty ears of 

 this. I also had rhu- 

 barb in the garden 

 which yielded about 

 ten bunches at ten cents per bunch. As an 

 experiment I planted a few hills of musk- 

 melon among the corn. As soon as the corn 

 was gone I pulled up the stalks and let 

 the sun get at the melon vines. Although 

 they had quite a late start I picked six 

 good sized melons from three different 

 vines. I have a small walk which runs 

 down one side of my garden and to the 

 right of this walk I have a strawberry 

 patch which I put out this spring. This, 

 patch is about eight feet wide and twenty- 

 five feet long. I expect a good return in 

 the spring from these plants as they have 

 shown good growth all summer. 



My exact expenses for the summer were 

 $11.74. And the amount which I think I 

 would have received for my produce at 

 the store prices and which I have itemized 

 would come to $14.00. Besides this I 

 figure that the vegetables obtained are 

 much more tender and in every way better 

 than those which are usually bought at the 

 store. 



Detroit, Mich. Robert L. Plues. 



