May 1907. J 



317 



Miscellaneous. 



This committee now has the supervision of nine school gardens. Five of these 

 gardens are confined to very limited spaces in the school yards, and therefore the 

 separate beds are much smaller than they should be for the best work. But in these 

 crowded districts we are thankful for every inch of ground given us. The schools 

 above referred to are the Lyman and James Otis of East Boston, the Hancock in the 

 North End, the Winthrop and the Martin in the South End. 



The Wells (girls) and Phillips (boys) Schools, of the West End, are situated 

 in one of the most congested quarters of the city. The school yards are large enough 

 only for the children to stand during their recess periods, crowded together like 

 penned up animals. To enable these children to "farm" the Boston Park Com- 

 mission has been most obliging in giving two strips of land on the water front 

 of the Charlesbank Park which have been converted into 118 beds. The Park 

 Commission placed fences around the strips and plows up and fertilizes the 

 ground each spring before the children go out to make preparations for 

 planting. 



The problems of space and fertilizing which must be faced and overcome 

 by the city gardeners practically disappear when we go to the suburbs. The two 

 suburban schools, the Washington Allston in Allston, and the Blackington in East 

 Boston are fortunate in having enough land to enable each child to possess a larger 

 plot and therefore to accomplish more satisfactory work. The Washington Allston 

 school has several fruit trees on its premises. 



In the Boston public school curriculum two hours a week are set aside for 

 nature work. Through this channel, with the interest of the school authorities 

 and the co-operation of the masters and teachers, the garden work has been 

 introduced. It is one of the great objects of the committee to have the garden 

 work bound to the school and made as important a part of a girl's or boy's 

 school training as the manual work. To accomplish this object with profit to 

 the children correlation of garden work with school work is essential; for by this 

 congelation not only will the garden become more lasting and valuable, but the other 

 school lessons will be made alive by the contact every child had with real good earth 

 and real live plants. If the garden lessons could be continued through the school 

 months the children's interest in the outdoor work would be kept awake during 

 that period, when their gardens are sleeping under the snow of our New England 

 winters. There is plenty of material for these lessons. 



In September the new class, preferably seventh grade, is taken out to 

 examine the condition of the plants, the seeds, and the weeds in the garden after 

 a summer's cultivation. In October and November the garden is cleared, the shrubs 

 are pruned, the ground is dug and fertilized, perennials and bulbs are planted, 

 and the garden covered for the winter. 



Planting of bulbs in the school rooms is done now also. In connection with 

 the fall work the children are taken to the fruit and flower exhibitions in the city, 

 where the examples they see give unimagined pleasure and arouse great interest in 

 " growing things." During the winter months of December and January lessons 

 on the soil and experiments in germination go far to prepare the children's under- 

 standing of what they must do and see when the outdoor work begins. In February 

 seeds are planted in window boxes, so that the small tomatoes and cabbages will 

 be ready to set out as soon as the weather will permit. With March come the 

 catalogues, the garden plans, the buying of seed, etc. April, May, and June present 

 more work than can well be done in the allotted two hours a week. When school 

 closes in June many of the children for one reason or another are unable to attend 

 to their beds. But as many as are able continue to appear at stated hours to 

 continue the work and the vacant places are filled by other children. A part of 



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