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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



May, 1913 



Conducted by Ellen Eddy Shaw 



The Month's Work 



1DO XOT try to do any cultivation before the 

 • little seedlings have poked above the ground. 

 If there are markers at the top and the bottom of 

 each row there will be no trouble in distinguishing 

 the seedlings. Then cultivate or stir the soil be- 

 tween the drills. When the seedlings are two inches 

 high thin out so each plant stands the proper dis- 

 tance from its neighbors. This stirring of the soil 

 is called cultivating and the layer of loose soil is 

 called a mulch. When the soil is thus made loose 

 moisture is kept in the ground below and does not 

 evaporate. The ground must be constantly worked 

 and weeds pulled out from the very start. 



2. Some of the discarded seedlings may be trans- 

 planted; others are not hardy enough to be worth 

 the transplanting. Asters, lettuce, tomato, stock, 

 pansy, and others may be transplanted. Never 

 transplant poppy; radish and beet rarely pay for 

 the work of transplanting. Flower pots inverted 

 over the seedlings for the first few days in new quar- 

 ters shields them from the too intense heat of the 

 sun. 



3. The following score card may be of help in 

 home and back yard garden work. Such a score 

 card filled in three or four times during the season 

 and inspected by a teacher or member of the garden 

 committee helps in a final judgment of work and is 

 of great encouragement to the children. 



Name . . 

 Address 

 School . 



GARDEN SCORE CARD 

 Date 



GENERAL GARDEN CONDITIONS 

 Score Possible 



Given Score 



Arrangement 5 



Uniformity 5 



Correctness of Planting 10 



Freedom f om Weeds 15 



Perfectoin of Growth 25 



60 

 Son. CONDITION 



.... Take into consideration the soil, whether good 

 or poor, cultivation it has received and state of 



perfection now in 40 



Signed 



4. Little flower gardens of solid color are pleasing 

 and the children enjoy them too. Try this for a 

 yellow garden : helianthus in the back ground, yellow 

 poppies, marigold and yellow pansies as a border. 

 A blue garden might be one of larkspur, corn flower, 

 ageratum or pansies. A pink garden could have 

 Canterbury bells in the background, stock, pink 

 asters, sweet William and pink candytuft. It is 

 fun to work out color schemes. Use white flowers 

 as asters and sweet alyssum to sow between rows 

 of rather violent colors to tone these down. Mig- 

 nonette makes a good color break too. 



5. There is always danger of a frost the first 

 part of May so do not try to put your little seedling 

 plants out of doors until after the middle of the 

 month except in the South, of course. But the 

 seed of tender plants such as beans, corn, pumpkin 

 and squash may be planted in the open. If plants 

 get nipped by the frost water them with cold water 

 and shield them with newspapers from the direct 

 rays of the sun. 



6. In the early part of this month plant seeds of 

 gourds, balloon plants and cucumber vines. All 

 these vines will do well. After the middle of the 

 month plant dahlias, gladioli, cannas and oxalis, 

 climbing nasturtiums Japanese hop vines and moon 

 vines. If there is to be a round bed of cannas and 

 the plants are to be bought, purchase seven cannas 

 for a four foot circular bed and nineteen for a seven 

 foot bed. After the fifteenth of May transplant 

 seedlings to the open ground. Thin all the little 

 plants you have started from seed. If any plants 

 seem backward try using nitrate of soda on them 

 as you did on house plants using the same pro- 

 portions. 



School Gardens in New Jersey 



SCHOOL garden work in Montclair was begun 

 ten years ago at the Watchung School by Mr. 

 Clifton, the principal, at the suggestion of Mrs. 

 Turner then supervisor of elementary grades. Four 

 years later the work was taken up at the Chestnut 

 Street School. Two years ago Maple Avenue 

 School had its first gardens and last spring work was 

 carried on in connection with the Open-Air class 

 on Cedar Avenue. Various schemes of planting 

 and caring for the gardens have been tried. 



The Watchung plot 72 x 72 ft. on the school prop- 

 erty is prepared, divided into one hundred and 

 sixty small plots 3x8, planted and cared for by 

 one hundred and fifty children, kindergarten to 

 6th grade inclusive. Radishes, lettuce, and onion 

 sets are planted. The gardens are cleared at the 

 close of school in June, the ground plowed and 

 seeded for a crop of green fertilizer. 



At Chestnut Street the lot, 100 x 200 ft. is a 

 block from the school house. It is a building lot, 

 private property, the use of which is given to the 

 Board of Education. Here 450 children, kinder- 

 garten to 7th grade inclusive, do all the work after 

 the land is plowed and harrowed. The lot is 

 divided into 400 plots 35 x 7 ft. which are planted 

 with vegetables that will mature before the end of 

 June. 



The first of July garden is again planted. The 

 plots this time, 7 x 14 ft. are assigned to children 

 who wish to have a summer garden. Tomato, 

 cabbage, and pepper plants (raised in the garden 

 hot bed), are transplanted, string beans, beets, 

 carrots, turnips are planted. 



Flowers and commercial products are planted in 

 the early spring: the flowers bordering the central 

 path and the commercial products bordering the 

 cross paths. Petunias, phlox, zinnias, marigolds 

 bachelor's buttons, nasturtiums, etc., furnish con- 

 tinuous material for geography and English. 



The garden at Maple Avenue is on a lot 100 x 100 

 ft. across the street from the school. The owner 

 gives the use of the land. Here 400 children, 

 kindergarten to 5th grade inclusive, work 200 plots 

 3 x 7 ft. The vegetables planted in the spring are 

 those that will mature before school closes. Then 

 the garden is replanted and cared for during the 

 summer by children who attend the playground 

 and summer school. Flowers are planted in the 

 spring and grow the entire season. 



A plot 40 x 60 ft. on the grounds used by the 

 Open-Air Class was made into a garden last spring. 

 Here the children planted potatoes, beets, carrots, 

 squash, onions, parsnips, and transplanted tomato 

 plants. 



In all the other gardens the vegetables raised are 

 taken home, but here they are used in preparing 

 the lunch which is served to the children. The 

 children do all the work until school closes, then 

 the janitor takes care of the garden during vacation, 

 the children resuming responsibility when school 

 begins. This garden gives opportunity for whole- 

 some exercise in the open air and the children are 

 much benefited physically by the work. 



During the spring the work in all of the gardens 

 is done during school hours, each class spending 

 about three-quarters of an hour there twice each 

 week. The actual work of caring for the garden is 

 only a small part of the garden work. In the class 

 room experiments are taken to show germination, 

 effect upon corn or beans of good soil and poor soil, 

 of growing with sufficient water and air, with air 

 and no water, with water and no air, etc. These 

 interest the children and prepare the way for les- 

 sons on germination, soils, fertilization of soils, 

 texture of soils, preparation of ground, cultivating, 

 etc. 



In the city of Newark this work is carried on by 

 the Board of Education. In Elmer it is also a part 

 of the school work but is aided and furthered by the 

 assistance of the W. C. T. U., and the press. One 

 of the teachers, Miss Souders, started by teaching 

 elementary agriculture to the children in her school 

 building. A plot of ground was obtained for the 

 children's use. At the present time the emphasis 

 is being placed upon home gardens. This side of 

 the work is carried on in Bridgeton also. 



Miss Laura Woodward who has charge of this 

 fine of work in the training school of Trenton writes, 

 "My efforts are given to the Carroll Robbins Train- 

 ing School where last year we had eight class gar- 

 dens and about seventy-five individual gardens most 

 of which (and the smallest) were five by eight feet 

 in size. The school and different individual chil- 

 dren exhibited at the Trenton Inter-State Fair and 

 we won altogether $46 in prizes. 



"Two groups of boys, members of our eighth 

 grade, formed themselves into garden clubs and 

 took two vacant lots in the neighborhood. It was 

 here the most efficient and successful garden work 

 was done as our school yard is not large. 



"For about eight years our school has had gardens 

 with varying success." 



Anna Washburn. 



State Chairman for New Jersey of the National School Garden 

 Association. 



School garden. Montclair. New Jersey, showing early stages when constant cultivation is essential 



