May 1907] 



321 



M sceltaneous. 



correlate with other branches of study. The study of soil formation ; the relation 

 of heat and moisture to soil ; the capillarity of soil ; the weather record ; the relation 

 of plants and animals to soil are all fundamental to the study of geography. 



A child who has laid out his garden with a tape measure, drawn it to scale, 

 and dug the soil, has a definite knowledge of lines, area and volumes. The weighing 

 and measuring of his products and its estimate in money value, give a more vital 

 significance to the study of compound denominate numbers than any artificial device. 

 The opportunity of doing rational nature study in the garden is too apparent to 

 need comment. 



The school garden work already accomplished has made Cleveland well and 

 favourably known in all parts of the country where progressive work is appreciated. 



The school garden movement was first inaugurated in 1901 by the establish- 

 ment of four gardens, the expense being assumed jointly by the Home Gardening 

 Association and the Board of Education. This year the Board of Education assumed 

 entire control and established eight gardens in different parts of the city. Owing 

 to the lateness of the season and the unprepared condition of the soil, planting was 

 not begun in some instances until the last of June, and there were many difficulties 

 to overcome. The object is to make the school grounds and gardens radiating 

 centres for civic improvement. 



CHILDREN'S GARDEN EXHIBITIONS. 

 (By Adin A. Hixon, Worcester, Mass.) 

 The first exhibition of children's school gardens that I remember was a little 

 more than 50 years ago. At that time I attended school in Dedham, and Mr. 

 Richardson, afterward editor of the Boston Congregationalist, was the teacher of 

 the school. We had a large school yard of about an acre or an acre and a half, and 

 it was at Mr. Richardson's suggestion that we had a garden. The boys had a large 

 yard to play in with room for a ball ground next to the schoolhouse, and a chestnut 

 and oakgrove on the other side. The girls also had a large yard where there were 

 plenty of shade trees, although these were not too thick to admit the sun in the 

 morning. Their yard was separated from adjoining property by a high board fence, 

 a nd the teacher suggested that we make a garden alongside of this. 



The fence was some 200 feet long, and we made a garden about 100 feet long 

 and four or five feet wide, It was Mr. Richardson's idea that the boys should make 

 the garden, and we set to work filling it with various plants that the children 

 brought from their homes. The boys did all the digging, wheeled away the stones, 

 and br*ought the dressing in wheel-barrows. 



The boys at that school took much pride in this garden, and cared for it 

 faithfully that year and the next, What became of it after that I don't know, as I 

 left school the next year. Not only did the boys take good care of the garden, but 

 they began to take some pride in the school yard, carted away the stones and cleaned 

 it up generally. 



While I am a believer in school gardens in certain ways, I do not believe in a 

 society, like the Worcester County Horticultural Society, offering prizes for school 

 gardens until they are endorsed by the school committee, or that that body at least 

 gives its consent to them, 



The first school in Worcester to arouse interest among the pupils was the 

 Upsala street school, where Principal Miss Mary C. Henry interested her pupils 

 and teachers to an unusual degree. The teachers at this school gave the pupils 

 of several grades seeds of the bachelor's button, nasturtiums, and petunias, 

 which they were allowed to take home and plant. Just before the close of school 



