M. Antoine Rivoire, the great seedsman of Lyons, France, realiz- 
ing the scarcity of hand labor after the war, has set on foot a project 
which could be well adapted to American conditions. 
A few miles from Lyons there is a huge establishment for de- 
linquent boys. A vegetable garden of 6 hectares (about 18 acres) 
has up to now been used merely for coarser vegetables, to supply the 
needs of the institution. The boys who work there have done so as a 
matter of routine, and have learned none of the principles or processes 
of gardening. Qn the other hand, the boys who work in the print or 
shoe shops emerge with a trade. 
M. Rivoire realized the unfairness and waste of this arrangement, 
and now the garden boys are working under a competent master (a 
mutile de la guerre), and two assistants, one of whom teaches vegetable 
growing, the other, the care of fruit trees. 
Many more varieties of vegetables are now grown and sold, for 
the boys must learn the management of all sorts of crops, besides 
producing enough of the coarser vegetables to supply the 300 inmates. 
So far no work has been done with flowers, but melons, endive, etc., 
are being forced. 
Instruction is given in such a way that, in spite of themselves, 
these boys are learning to be efficient gardeners and useful men. 
M. Rivoire has added the direction of this enterprise to his many 
other patriotic tasks. 
"Whatever are the other causes for the dearness of vegetables; 
existing circumstances; the need of the army; mercantilism above all, 
let us be persuaded of this : the remedy is in a multiplicity of private 
gardens, that is to say, in the expansion of vegetable culture, each 
family for itself." 
Georges Bellair, in Le Jardin. 
Advice from England 
The following paragraphs have been quoted and adapted from 
various English and French garden publications : 
The duty of the gardening world at the present critical time is 
clear. Mere obstructive criticism is useless. Every pound of food 
that can be produced will be wanted, and therefore it is every gar- 
dener's plain duty to look upon himself as an unofficial officer en- 
listed in the service of the Director- General of Food Production. 
Furthermore, gardeners and owners of gardens must face the 
present position. Without sacrificing plants of real value and variety 
