PARK AND CEMETERY 
434 
ists and horticulturists, and who hopes by suggestion 
to lead the steps of some of his lads in these direc- 
tions. 
La Casa de Roses, at Los Angeles, is truly a house 
of roses. It is not only a bower of blooms inside and 
out most of the year, but harbors such a bevy of pink- 
cheeked, sparkling-eyed maidens as are seldom found 
in the ugly red brick edifice bare of verdure, which is 
generally known as the district school. Why not? 
Is it not reasonable to believe that beauty begets 
beauty through the daily vision of graceful designs 
and delicately blended colors ; that the nerves are re- 
freshed by delicious odors and the mind enriched by 
the knowledge and acquaintance with Nature’s pro- 
ductions ; that the characters as well as the health of 
these students shall be unusually good ? 
Clever plant decoration may be found at this school. 
A thrifty vine bearing small leaves has been trained 
from without the portico to its ceiling within and now 
covers it like a veil. The portion on the ceiling being 
screened from the intense heat of the sun, is bleached 
to a pale green, thus af¥ording a charming contrast to 
the darker shade without. 
In spite of the fact that children's gardens, when 
arranged by adults, are more attractive than their 
own productions, we must urge the predominance of 
the grounds planted, cared for and, if possible, de- 
signed by the small gardener. Nothing makes a child 
labor so willingly as a wholesome feeling of independ- 
ence and ownership. Nature study appeals to the 
child. While watching the grc wth of the tiny seed- 
ling, removing destructive insects and fertilizing the 
earth his sense of seeing is being developed threefold. 
Children should be taught the names of the trees in 
their town on sight. Prizes were offered in Louis- 
ville not long ago to the child who should bring the 
names of the city trees in largest number and regu- 
larly classified. One child offered over two hundred 
varieties. This knowledge will doubtless prove one of 
his most cherished possessions. 
In 1901, at Hyannis, a number of boys and girls 
measured a lot in sections for vegetables. Under the 
supervision of the principal it was prepared and sown 
with seeds furnished by the government. As soon as 
the produce was ready for the market it was sold and 
a bank account opened. Thus the children studied in 
connection with the work, mechanical drawing, num- 
bers and botany in a very easy and alluring form. 
This plan has been adopted in a number of localities 
with more or less success, but in no place with more 
delight to both teachers and pupils than in the city of 
Milwaukee, where a branch of the Auxiliary to the 
American Park and Outdoor Art Association are leav- 
ing the world more beautiful than they found it. 
This band of earnest v\ orkers not only planted sev- 
eral school grounds themselves, but, under the help- 
ful advice of experts, selected a tract of land in the 
Russian settlement district, where for two seasons they 
have had an out-of-doors kindergarten. In the be- 
ginning a gardener was engaged, who enriched the 
earth and divided it into forty-two narrow plots, 
twenty-one on each side of a path three feet wide, ex- 
tending from north to south through the middle of the 
lot. The beds were three by eighteen feet and ex- 
tended east and west. They were separated by a two- 
foot path. A strip two feet wide was reserved along 
the north and west fence for shrubbery and a forty- 
foot space allowed on the Cherry street and alley 
sides of the grounds. Two lilacs were placed as sen- 
tinels at the beginning of the path, while the other 
shrubs were arranged in curves extending outward 
and downward towards the street. This is the ap- 
proach to the gardens cared for by sixty children. 
Sixteen of the beds are reserved for fiowers and the 
rest planted with a variety of vegetables. After the 
first sowing of radishes had been harvested aster 
]:)lants were set in each vacant place to give a touch of 
color and beauty to the gardens. 
\’ery little vandalism has been reported to the chair- 
man, j\Irs. C. B. Whitnal, who has been untiring in 
her efforts to teach the little people the laws of kind- 
ness as well as horticulture. 
These children received vegetable and flower seeds 
for their home gardens where the parents assisted in 
the work. Last year thirty-nine obtained good results 
and this year seventy-eight have signified a desire to 
plant at home as well as in the settlement garden. 
The most interesting part of this labor is the exam- 
ination of the record books kept by each little gar- 
dener. A quotation from one written by Sophie Ker- 
zinsky reads as follows : “The garden I love better 
than any place on earth. I like to pace its graveled 
walks. Its silence and the pulse of fragrance that 
come and go on the airy undulation, affects me like 
sweet music. Care stops at the gate and gazes at me 
wistfully through the bars. It is pathetic almost. I 
sometimes think how deeply seated in the human 
heart is the liking for gardens.” This child has read 
beyond her years, evidently, and does not know how 
to use the words her fancy seizes. John Kloplan 
writes : “Now I will tell you all about my garden. 
The first thing was to dig the earth and make it soft 
and mellow. Then I flattened it all around the outside 
part and took out all of the stones of the earth. I 
planted three rows of radishes, lettuce and onions and 
some nasturtiums and phlox and I digged the earth so 
my vegetables may have some air.” Here spoke the 
practical man to come. 
A most interesting boys’ garden may be seen in the 
town of Groton, Mass. One of the school teachers 
decided to spend her vacation with a group of scholars 
who were ambitious to raise vegetables for a pastime. 
