PARK AND CEMETERY 
9 
In 1905 an exchange garden was established, half 
an acre in extent. In reply to an appeal for surplus 
plants from all sources, generous contributions were 
made and the exchange system is proving another suc- 
cess. On this ground an i8-cent garden is maintained. 
The vacant lot cjuestion was taken up seriously dur- 
ing the year. Many gardens were created and a satis- 
factory beginning made in this department of improve- 
ment. Another form of vacant lot cultivation was also 
tried, which came to be known as the neighborhood 
garden. It was originally designed for the use of 
ailing children without being restricted to that class 
owing to the labor involved. Most of the sick children 
dropped out, but the experience demonstrated that 
while the original purpose was not accomplished, the 
work can be greatly enlarged and the neighborhood 
garden become an important factor in the improvement 
of city conditions. 
In relation to ward gardens, the year 1905 showed 
that, in the contest for prizes entries were made from 
every ward in the city. 
The association in 1903 began to look after the 
trees of the city and by its influence a city Department 
of Forestry was established. Three wardens were 
appointed and several thousands of trees planted. 
The entire expense of the seed distribution has been 
met by the proceeds from the sales ; the only compen- 
sation paid is to the person who attends to the orders 
and packing and to those who put up the packages. 
All money contributions have been used either for 
prizes or for extending the work. 
In this brief account of this association’s activities, 
two questions suggest themselves : Where is there 
another organization that has produced such results 
in so short a time? and why can not any other go 
and do likewise. The results of the work of the 
Home Gardening Association, of Cleveland, is un- 
questionably remarkable ; in no line of activity has it 
failed, and besides having laid firm foundations for 
making Cleveland a city beautiful, it has placed it in 
the position of a leader in outdoor improvement work, 
and demonstrated that money is not the all-important 
factor. Every organization in the country should, if 
possible, secure its reports which may be obtained 
from the Association, 368 St. Clair St., Cleveland. 
Seeds are also furnished to outside organizations. 
Recent Progress in ScHool Garden WorR 
The development of the school garden chiring these 
first few years of the twentieth century is a matter of 
astonishing interest. With the data of experience 
now in print concerning what is being done, and to 
what ejctent the idea has spread, one can speculate 
upon the apparent anomaly that gardening, in connec- 
tion with the earlier years of a child’s education, has 
not been practiced in all the years of advanced human 
intelligence. On the face of the question if would 
appear the most natural thing in the world that the 
innate love of nature so prominent in most children’s 
characters, should have suggested long, long ago, that 
gardening in some form or another, would not only 
give zest to the school studies, but would open out the 
intelligence, the better to grasp the problems which 
TEACHERS’ CLASS AT SCHOOL OP HORTICULTURE, 
HARTFORD, CONN. 
the pursuit of the three R’s entailed upon the juvenile 
intellect. 
Leading educators of the young, particularly' in the 
East, are enthusiastic over the results so far attained, 
and while a majority of teachers perhaps have balked 
at the fancied difficulty of correlating the educational 
features of gardening with the curriculum of the com- 
mon schools, this difficulty has been surmounted by 
those of broader views, and it has been found that 
the studies involved in the making and cultivation of 
school gardens have vitalized the children’s intelli- 
gence and made the other studies more agreeable and 
general results more decided. 
The school garden as part of a child’s education 
does not comprehend doing away with studies now 
KINDERGARTEN CLASS AT W^ADSWORTH SCHOOL, 
HARTFORD, CONN. 
