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tion first place. The city is divided into wards and 
each ward will be taken up street by street and block 
by block. 
The initiative has been taken in the formation of a 
Civic Art Club in the Chamber of Commerce in Erie, 
Pa. The Women’s Club of that city writes as follows : 
“We have been searching out in different directions for 
instructions, and' we have already made quite a start 
in the way of awakening interest among our citizens, 
and do feel as though we had given the initiative to the 
organizing of a Civic Art Club in the Chamber of 
Commerce of Erie. 
“Remembering Charles Dudley Warner’s ‘Little Red 
Bonnet,’ we began in a modest way to plant and culti- 
vate the school grounds about the Central School 
building, which has done much toward attracting at- 
tention in that direction, and the children, much to the 
surprise of many fearful ones, are proud of their 
grounds, and would not molest, nor allow others so to 
do, for anything, and the spirit of beautifying is 
already growing. 
“The ground about our postoffice, a beautiful build- 
ing in the center of the main thoroughfare, has been 
woefully neglected and these we secured to cultivate, 
and soon after our work was done the authorities at 
the court house began a work on their grounds which 
made a wonderful improvement. So we see before us 
what the effort of a bit of work in the right direction 
means. 
“We have succeeded in putting the matter of gar- 
bage collection into the hands of the Health Board, 
and now that body find themselves under the vigilant 
inspection of a few determined, yet lastful women, and 
you know what that means.” 
AN IMPROVEMENT EXHIBIT IN CHICAGO. 
The work of neighborhood improvement has never 
been so active in Chicago as this year. Nearly every 
residence section of the city has its local improve- 
ment association, and the recently organized Neighbor- 
hood Improvement League of Cook County was re- 
cently formed to bring about co-operation between the 
various forces at work for the improvement of the city. 
The value and growth of this work was well dem- 
onstrated in the exhibition held at the new Municipal 
Museum in Chicago, from April 24 to May 13. The 
exhibit included : Neighborhood improvement, street 
cleaning, garbage removal, smoke abatement, care of 
vacant lots, work of vacation schools, school gardens, 
improvement of school grounds, railway station im- 
provements, public libraries, public hygiene, and was 
given under the direction of the Neighborhood Center 
Committee of the Chicago Women’s Club, with the co- 
operation of the Neighborhood Improvement League of 
Cook County, The Vacation School Committee of the 
Chicago Woman’s Club, The Chicago Library Club, The 
Women’s Outdoor Art League of the American Civic 
Association. In connection with the exhibition in- 
formal addresses were made at 12 and at 4 o’clock 
daily. 
Among those of especial interest were the following : 
Neighborhood Improvement Associations — Needs and 
Results, by Mrs. Lrank Asbury Johnson; The South 
Park Improvement Association, by A. H. Nelson; The 
Improvement of School Surroundings, (Stereopticon) 
by O. T. Bright ; Preservation of Our Native Wild 
Blowers, by Charles L. Millspaugh ; The Redemption 
of Harrisburg, by Charles Zueblin; The Lormation of 
a Neighborhood Improvement Association, by Mrs. 
John O’Connor; The Children’s Part in Civic Im- 
provement, by E. G. Routzahn ; The Neighborhood Im- 
provement League of Cook County, by E. C. Went- 
worth ; Small ParK Lield Houses, by Rev. J. A. Rond- 
thaler ; Outdoor Art and Civic Improvement, by Mrs. 
C. F. Millspaugh ; Railroad Station Improvement, by 
Mrs. A. E. McCrea. 
VACANT LOTS GARDENING IN WASHINGTON. 
The Washington City Gardens Association, Wash- 
ington, D. C., which is successfully conducting a sys- 
tem of vacant lots gardening in that city somewhat 
similar to that of Philadelphia, which has been de- 
scribed in these pages, is beginning this year’s work 
with more applications than can be possibly granted 
for gardens and expects that the number of gardens 
will be doubled. 
This important line of work was set on foot last year 
with the object of encouraging the utilization of the 
vacant lots surrounding Washington for growing 
produce. The association secured the services of a com- 
petent superintendent and working plans for the 
gardens were developed and put into operation. 
The association furnishes the seed, fertilizes and 
plows the land and lends or sells the tools at cost. 
The gardens cost the association the first year $18.25, 
each; last year this cost was reduced to $6.16. Last 
season Washington conducted about eighty vacant lot 
gardens. Each garden averaged about one-eighth of 
an acre. The expenses of the association last year were 
something over $1,000, which was contributed by a 
comparatively small number of people who were thor- 
oughly in sympathy with the effort to furnish self- 
help to the needy. The association will make an effort 
to secure a small appropriation from Congress for the 
work. 
The most successful crops grown were sweet corn, 
peas, beans and potatoes. A number of the gardeners 
produced a sufficient quantity of potatoes to supply their 
families during the winter. 
B. H. Warner is president of the Association ; Vice- 
President, Prof. L. C. Corbett ; Secretary, Z. H. Copp ; 
Corresponding Secretary, Miss Susan B. Sipe. 
