April 1907,] 245 Miscellaneous. 



shire, whose Agricultural Education Sub-Corunrittee has done much to advance 

 this important subject, and in various places in the county are established school- 

 gardens for boys between the ages of eleven and fourteen years attending the 

 elementary schools ; and also plots for older lads who are attending evening schools. 

 The scheme is supervised by a staff lecturer, Mr. A. B. Burgess (formerly connected 

 with the Essex County School of Horticulture), and he is assisted by several sub- 

 instructors. In order to help forward the work special classes in horticulture and 

 botany are established for school-teachers (many of whom, it is well known, are 

 first-rate cultivators), so that they themselves may lend a hand in the work of 

 instruction. The rapid increase in the work, however, has made the appointment 

 of an additional instructor necessary, and during the present year, Mr. J. H. Walker, 

 of Leicester, has been appointed to the western side of the county, where he has 

 already several school gardens at work. In all the centres the boys have separate 

 plots and the county provides tools, tool-houses, and sometimes seeds. The boys 

 are, subject to certain restrictions, allowed to appropriate the produce of their 

 individual plots. 



One of the most important centres of the work is Cheshunt, where it was 

 our pleasure recently to inspect the gardens, and to see the boys at work. The 

 local Council of Cheshunt has acquired a large house and grounds— the Old Manor 

 House— for Urban district offices, etc., and the garden afforded an ideal spot for 

 the scheme. About one acre of this garden is rented by the Technical authorities, 

 and it has been stocked with trees and flowers, largely through the generosity of 

 Mr. George Paul, who takes a keen interest in the movement. Four schools take 

 part in the work of this garden, and the number of boys attending each week is 

 over one hundred. Each lad receives one and a half hour's instruction, somewhat 

 as follows :— Three-quarters of an hour in the Technical School attached to the 

 garden, where he is taught the principles of horticulture, and three-quarters 

 of an hour practical work and instruction in the garden. The garden is divided 

 into several sections, viz., (a) General plot, consisting of flower-borders and 

 fruit and vegetable quarters. Here the lad receives a preliminary training before 

 being apportioned a plot to himself ; (b) school plots : there are four of these, 

 and each is divided into fourteen small plots, one for each boy. For the school 

 with the best quarter is offered a Challenge Shield, presented by the nurserymen 

 of Cheshunt. It has been won this year by the Cheshunt British School, (c) beds for 

 the inclusion of plants of the more common families ; (d) an orchard-plot, containing 

 Apple, Pear, Plum, Medlar, Quince, and Cherry trees. These trees have been trained 

 in various ways. More than fifty have been grafted or budded, either by the students 

 themselves, or by the instructor for demonstration purposes. The boys can thus 

 watch the development of a tree from the bud or graft to its final shape. The 

 seeds are provided by the local Education Sub-Committee. The vegetables, fruit, 

 etc., from the general plot are sold, a goodly portioned being purchased by the 

 parents of the lads attending the class. The produce of the four school gardens is, as 

 stated, taken by the boys themselves, subject to the payment of a small sum, and 

 they may dispose of it as they wish. No lad, however, is allowed to remove 

 anything before it has been valued by the instructor and entered in a note-book. 

 Thus, the boys are taught the value of a crop as well as the manner of producing it. 

 The fifty-six plots were each carrying the same crops — Beans, Lettuce, Potatos, 

 Carrots, Beet, Onions, and Parsnips. A crop of Peas has just been harvested, and the 

 boys had made more than sufficient from the sale of these than the amount of their 

 fees. The size of each plot is about thirty square yards, although in some of the 

 centres they are from thirty-six to forty square yards. In bad weather the lads 

 assemble in the potting-shed, where they are given suitable work. 



The gardens are also used for demonstrations to the public and to the pupils 

 of the evening classes. Cheshunt and district should be congratulated on having in 

 their midst such a man as Mr. George Paul, to whose energy and influence the 

 establishment of technical horticulture in the district is largely due, and through 

 whose generosity many acceptable plants and trees have been added to the garden, 

 — Ucirdener^ Chronicle, 



