GARDENING 
FOR. 
YOUNG FOLKS 
CONDUCTED BY ELLEN EDDY SHAW 
Preparing For the June Exhibit 
I F THE children of a school or community are 
working for prizes in a June or fall exhibit, 
whatever conditions are to govern such an exhibit 
should be made known to the children at once. 
Classes should be selected; and this selection should 
cover a range of possibilities. For some children 
may have to work in backyards where little sun- 
shine comes; others having no backyards must 
plant in boxes; while many of them will be obliged 
to struggle under conditions of very poor garden 
soil. So the classes must include such flowers or 
vegetables as one can raise in boxes, or under very 
adverse conditions. If a June exhibit is the one 
decided upon, then include only those plants which 
really show a result in June. The entire exhibit 
may be divided into two classes, individual and 
group exhibits. Some shows may not need a class 
for group exhibits: group exhibits would stand for 
those made by entire schools or classes in schools. 
After deciding on this point divide up into classes 
for exhibits of vegetables, flowers and perhaps speci- 
men plants. It is far better to give prizes for some 
definite thing than for a general sort of exhibit. 
Make each class specific. For example, offer first 
and second prizes in Class A, Flowers, The best six 
blue asters; Class B, Vegetables, The best bunch 
of ten radishes; Class C, Specimen Plants, The best 
specimen foliage plant. 
Do not have too many classes at first. If you 
are planning for a June exhibit, choose sweet 
alyssum, cornflower, zinnia, marigold, lobelia, and 
dwarf nasturtium; beans, radish, lettuce, onion 
(sets), early carrots; specimen plants of corn, to- 
mato and any young garden plant which in your 
section is a favorite one with the children. 
Make conditions for this exhibit which are con- 
structive ones and which will correspond with those 
which govern adult exhibits. All vegetables must 
be cleaned and tied in bunches, foliage cut off to 
avoid the condition of wilt, pots in which the speci- 
men plants are brought must be clean, the flowers 
should be uniform, the number brought should tally 
exactly with the requirement, and containers be 
supplied for each exhibit. Ask for plain glass 
bottles such as olive bottles. Do not ask for vases 
for these will be of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and 
spoil the general effect of the exhibit. The plain 
glass bottle is very inoffensive. If one bloom only 
is asked for, then use a test tube. Do not cover 
exhibit tables with crepe paper which as soon as 
water touches it becomes most unsightly, but use 
instead any good white paper or ordinary brown 
wrapping paper. 
Make a point of hav- 
ing your June exhibit 
really judged, not just 
gone over hastily. Place 
the individual exhibits 
of one class together and 
judge class by class. If 
all the marigolds are 
grouped together, it is 
far easier to pick out the 
prize entry. Judge on 
size, uniformity of speci- 
men, and arrangement. 
Take, from each ex- 
hibit, the exhibitor’s 
name and place on it a 
number; upon the 
child’s name card put 
this same number. After 
the judging has been 
done by your corps of 
judges, take off the 
number cards and put 
back the name cards. 
Have printed blue, first 
prize cards; red, second 
prize ones; and green cards for honorable mention. 
Place these cards by the prize winners’ exhibits. 
These bright cards stand out and add much to the 
importance of the occasion. 
The following notice sent to the California schools 
for a sweet-pea exhibit offers suggestions for ex- 
hibits: 
EXHIBITING SWEET PEAS 
“Cut your very best, long-stemmed sprays with 
the greatest number of flowers on one spray. Cut 
your flowers on the morning of July 3rd, after the 
dew and fog have passed, for your blossoms must 
be dry when packed or they will change color. 
Cut at least thirty sprays and put them in water for 
a few hours before you place them in your shipping 
box. Line a shoe box with oil paper, wrap the 
ends of the stems in moist cotton and place one row 
in box, then put in a piece of tissue paper, then an- 
other row of flowers. Do not crowd them and be 
sure to put tissue paper between rows, and then 
make them firm in your box with tissue paper. 
Write your letter to Mr. C. A. Stebbins, College 
of Agriculture, Berkeley. Tell him how old you 
are, what grade and school, from whom you received 
the seed, whether you planted it in a home or school 
garden and just how you watered and cared for 
your seeds. Your letter counts three points so be 
very careful about your spelling, capitalization, 
periods, and have it neat. First prize, $10.00; second 
prize, $5.00; third prize, $2.50; fourth prize, $1.00 to 
the next fifteen.” 
A portion of a report written by Mr. Chester 
Hamilton on the children’s home garden work car- 
ried on under the auspices of The Horticultural 
Society of Toronto, Canada, gives further help in 
this work: 
“The schools that will take up the Home Garden 
work for the season, have not yet been selected. 
We are assured that those entered last year will 
continue, and several others will be added. In an 
interview with the Chief Inspector of public schools, 
he stated that an effort was being made to obtain 
the use of vacant lots near the schools to use as 
training plots for practical illustration in gardening 
— supplementing the work of nature study now con- 
ducted in the classrooms. We believe this scheme of 
having gardening classes in the schools will greatly 
increase the interest of the children in our Home 
Garden Movement. We will again subscribe for 
The Garden Magazine to be sent to each school 
for the benefit of the pupils engaging in our work. 
Two medals, one silver and one bronze, will be 
given to each school competing for best gardens to 
children in the 4th and 3rd books, judged by care 
taken of plots, condition of soil, quality of growth, 
general excellence in appearance, etc. The gardens of 
all competitors to be first examined by the teacher, 
who will select the best ten, send the names and ad- 
dresses to the Horticultural Society, whose com- 
mittee will inspect and make final awards. Money 
prizes of 1st, fifty cents: 2nd, thirty cents; and 3rd, 
twenty cents, will be given for best specimens of 
each kind named below shown at the Autumn Fair, 
to be held in each school in September, the exhibits 
to be the products of the pupil’s own garden and 
own efforts: 
Carrots Chantenay 
Beets Round variety 
Squash Boston Marrow 
Tomatoes Earliana or Early Jewel 
Asters Any variety 
Zinnias Double 
Nasturtiums Climbing 
Bouquet of Cut Flowers 
“No exhibitor to win more than two money prizes. 
A prize-winner may also win a medal. Pupils 
may select such kinds as they choose to plant and 
which may best suit the location of their garden.” 
The normal schools in our different states help 
children’s garden along by the training that is 
given to students in the garden itself and also with 
children in the garden. What is stated here of one 
normal school is true of others. The methods 
used may be different but the fact remains that 
to-day in such schools a real effort is being made to 
train young teachers for this work. 
“Our garden was planned and planted by the 
Nature Study Class of the Keene Normal School, 
Keene, N. H. It was to include the raising of 
flowers, vegetables and small sample plots of the 
great staple crops. The flower beds were placed 
next to the street and those vegetables like radish, 
lettuce, etc., which would be harvested early, were 
placed next so that their space could be filled with 
more flowers. Each girl was put in charge of one 
flower and one vegetable and was responsible for 
the proper planting and care of same. Among the 
staple crops planted were cotton, peanuts, tobacco, 
sorghum, broom corn, clover, alfalfa and two or 
three grasses. In the kitchen garden were planted 
sage, summer savory, thyme, and similar garden 
herbs. 
“No attempt was made to sell produce from the 
garden as our school is supported by the state. 
Many people received baskets of vegetables and 
bouquets of flowers as gifts. The tomatoes have 
been put up in various forms by the Household 
Arts Classes and the other vegetables have been used 
for lessons in cooking in the same classes. We shall 
have potatoes, squashes, 
beets, and cabbages for 
the use of the class dur- 
ing the winter lessons. 
Adjoining the normal 
section was the grade 
section, planted this 
year by a fifth grade. 
The work was all plan- 
ned and carried out by 
the Normal students. 
The quality of the pro- 
duct of both gardens is 
shown by the fact that 
several prizes were 
awarded for vegetables 
and flowers shown at 
the Cheshire Grange 
Fair. Sixteen varieties 
of vegetables and three 
varieties of flowers were 
sent to the State Fair 
at Rockingham Park, 
Salem, as a Normal Ex- 
hibit, but not for com- 
petition.” 
The Roger Williams Park Garden (Providence. K. I.) in May showing various activities: training of fruit trees; use of 
garden tools; study of insect pests 
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