Amador ledger., 1906-02-23

were soon erected, and the School -,
tabl1shed as the first public Handicraft
ccnool OF Hartford. Besides givin&
apprentice work, and course in hor.
dculture and botany to the bows from
Cne Watkinson Farm School the fol.
rowing season course in school oar.
den1ng was established. This conrsa
was opened to the boys and girls from
the city sc-ools.
The school garden work at thu
Scnooi OF horticulture proved attrac.
i've and popular from the first, ana
a1ter one or two years Of free WORK
tuluon was charged for each person
VINO TOOK garden. This tuition neea
NOT Keep any one from having a gar.
den, as 100 hours of work FOR thn
School pays any boys tuition.
The school garden work has hoam
systematized, until now there is a fiva
years course In school gardening foE
boys and girls, as well as one to train
Pubic school teachers, and one corirQ1
for adults which is largely taken bg
clergymen of the city.
One of the reasons which has mads
this work so popular is because of ths
fact that the school shows resulta
Every boy here, every person, for thaa
matter, who has garden gets a gresa
deal more in value from his gardea
than the price of the tuition.
The first year the boys begin Their
garden work the 1st of May. They
come out for lesson one day week
They come into the classroom, whegu
each boy receives a notebook, MARKS
his own attendance, keeps a weather
report, and writes down from dicta-
ton, or copies from the blackboard,
detailed lesson for that day. With
the seeds they are given, they then
pass with the instructor to the tool
room, where each boy receives hin
tools, and with these he goes to hE1
garden, where an Instructor is always
pre-ent to explain the things which ha
learns in the classroom. In going II
his garden he passes by the observe
ton plots, which are studied.
The second year the boys begin N
March, taking up the mixing Of tn
soil, potting and repotting tile tomatn.
pepper, and egg plants that they havs
In their gardens.
The third year they begin in Febru.
ary and take up root-grafting, cutting,
pruning, spraying, digging and settinR
trees, spading and caring for ground6
as well as the garden lessons.
The fourth year boys begin in Jan
uary and take up the making Of hot.
beds, management of hotbeds, prun-
ing, spraying, soil analysis, plan
foods, testing seeds, planting the gar.
den, besides the garden lessons. ana
in the autumn they have BUDDING.
fruit culture, and asparagus culture
The fifth year they take up system.
atic study Of the soil, beginning IN
January. All gardens continue untA
after the 1st of October.
That the gardens pay is best shown
from record Of the garden yields dur.
Ing the past summer. A first year boy
got $3.50 worth, a third year boy
$25.64, a fourth year boy $2S.O3, and
one OF the clergymen $17.21 worth Of
produce in the gardens.
The first year the gardens are q
< 80 it., the second year 10 Z 40 "a,
the third year 10 60 #, the fourth
year 10 80 #. The clergymen have
gardens 10 40 #. Public school
teachers have gardens 10 80 and 10
Z 4O IT; the plan is to give them q
practical training in the method oa
training school children in the work
Already several schools Of Hartfos4
have established gardens in connSg.
ton with the schools, and the Scho@
Of Horticulture is furnishing instrue.
tors Of late; those that are giving sA-
sruction were trained at the School
OF Horticulture. But there is anothea
thing that the school does. It keeps
the children occupied during the sum-
mer months, keeping the boys and
girls off the city streets; because they
come to love their gardens and coma
out to work in them, and to work out
their tuition. This is not all, as sooa
as the planting is done in the gar
dens the children take up the system
attic study Of weeds. they become IA
m1liar with them and learn methods
OF destroying them. Also at the School
there are about 500 observation plots
containing many Of our common
things, and the children learn to know
them In all stages of development.
People are beginning to realize that
boy from the School Of Horticulture
is better to work In their garden than
the average man they can get, BE-
cause the boys will not pull up ex.
pensfve seedlings as the men so often
do. Frequent calls are made upon Me.
Heplenway for boy to take care Of
garden or lawn, and many Of ths
boys are able to spend most Of their
spare time during the summer In this
line of work