IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN SCHOOL GARDENS lllllll!lltl|]||||l!llllllllllllll!llllllllll!ll!^ 
Fairview School Gardens, 600 individual plots 10 by 15 feet, Yonkers, N. Y. 
School Gardens in Albany, N. Y. 
Mrs. J. T. D. Blackburn, chairman of the garden committee of the 
Wbmen’s Clubs of Albany, in an illustrated address at a meeting of the 
American Civic League, in Washington, D. C., told what was being done 
in Albany. The following are a few of the excellent things she said. 
School gardening in its early stages meant the decoration of school 
grounds and home yards, and a feeble attempt to grow a few vegetables. 
School gardening in cities where it has been developed, in Albany, 
for example, includes such possibilities as these. Raising vegetables 
enough to supply the family. Raising flowers that may be sold to aug¬ 
ment the family income. Developing in children a taste for farming 
processes that encourage them to take technical agricultural courses. 
Converting school hoodlums, and ne’er-do-wells to industrious and cap¬ 
able workers. 
All this is not pretty theory. These results have all been accom¬ 
plished in Albany, where the Women’s Clubs took over school-gardening, 
and fostered it until now the school officials recognize its value. 
In Albany we can cite concrete cases where the back-to-the-farm 
movement has been brought to the front and back yards of city dwellers. 
We can show examples of boys who have been saved from the schools 
for incorrigibles by these gardens. We can point to boys, even to one 
girl, who have taken agricultural courses because of the interest aroused 
by school gardens. A boy who was known as an incorrigible bully at 
our orphan asylum, now is the pride of that institution. A garden did 
that for him. With two other boys he took over a tract of land from 
which they cleared $150.00 in a year. 
Children of some of the extremely poor families were encouraged 
to grow flowers in unusual patches near their homes, which were sold 
at a good profit. 
Women’s Clubs can do much to arouse interest in the movement, 
but entire success does not crown a club’s efforts until the school officials 
realize the value of the work and take it under their supervision. 
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29 
