4 6 



School Gardens. 

 Very interesting work is also being done in school gardens in 

 the great cities. In 1902 a school of this sort was established 

 by Mrs. Henry Parsons in Be Witt Clinton Park, New York City. 

 This park is one of the public playgrounds and is located in a 

 very thickly populated section of the city. The tract allotted 

 to the school comprises 7 acres and includes playgrounds, a 

 running track, a pavilion and pergola, and a farm garden. 

 The pavilion is equipped with shower baths and school rooms 

 for indoor gymnasium and kindergarten exercises. The upper 

 floor is set aside as a recreation place for mothers and small 

 children. The pergola is to be used for children and teachers 

 in connection with the farm garden. Mrs. Parsons secured per- 

 mission from the Park Commissioner to carry on the farm 

 garden as an experiment at first. It proved successful, and 

 the farm garden became a regular feature of the park work. 

 The Park Department has created the post of Director of Play- 

 grounds and Children's Farm Schools, with a salary of £500 per 

 annum. 



The garden area is divided into 458 plots. " Under the super- 

 vision of competent teachers, seeds w r ere sown and the little 

 farmers tended their plots from sowing time to the harvest. 

 Several crops w r ere harvested — there being a rotation of farmers 

 as well as of crops — and in all about 2,500 children have enjoyed 

 the advantage afforded by this odd school." The crops grown 

 in 1905 were radishes, peas, beets, carrots, corn, lettuce, and 

 onions. The garden comprises about one acre. Children from 

 fourteen schools worked in the garden and fifteen schools sent 

 visiting classes. 



There was also a School of Household Industry for young 

 girls, where more than 500 girls participated in the work during 

 the last three months under report. 



Another large school garden exists at Yonkers, near New 

 York City. It comprises \\ acres of land divided into 240 plots 

 worked by many boys. It is so popular that a waiting list for 

 entry has to be kept. Every boy pays 2 cents a week for 

 seed and instruction, with the view of giving him a special 

 sense of proprietorship in his plot. Each boy has a memoran- 

 dum book which is kept in the garden, in which he must make 

 an entry each time he visits his plot, so that it becomes a diary 



