The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-05-26
GARDENING
FOR PRIZES
SCHOOL CHILDREN COMPETE
Awards VIII BE Made Next Week by
School Dircctors-Good show
ings Made This Year.

School gardens are one of the latest
educational notions to receive atten-
ton in the larger cities and North
Yakima is well up towards the front
in progrcssiveness in having garden
plots in all the city schools. The small
gardeners are looking forward to next
week when the prizes offered by the
school board to the school with the
best garden will be awarded A sim
liar prize was offered last year and
provoked SO much enthusiasm that it
was repeated this, and most of the
schools have gardens on a much more
ambitious scale than before. Each
class has its individual plot, even the
kindergarten babies being not forgot
ten. Radishes and lettuce are being
raised almost in sufficient quantities
to supply the entire school population,
while peas, cabbage and onions have
a large following
Children Are Wise.
In North Yakima, which is an agri-
cultural district, it is not surprising
that the children have so much gen.
eral and particular knowledge about
growing things. One of the teachers,
who, before coming here. had taught
children, mostly of foreign parentage,
in crowded city district was aston
ished at the variety of the outdoor
knowledge possessed by five and six
year old boys and girls here. At first
she hesitated about letting the little
ones weed the garden except under
her personal supervision, but she soon
discovered that they knew quite us
much about it as she. In settlement
district in Milwaukee, where the
school gardens were started a few
years ago, it was learned that some
of the children had never seen peas
or beans growing.
'Why, see! they're backing up!' eX-
claimed one child, when the peas in
her straight little row first began to
show above the ground, and another
child was for planting them over
again, other end up.
Have Ornate Borders.
Some of the school gardens are
! marked out with borders of cobblo
stones; others have only the paths to
outline them. In most of the schools
| besides the vegetable garden, there
are flowers and vines to be cared for
The Central school has a promising
rose bed, geranium beds and chrysan-
/ themums started, so that the grounds
will be a beauty spot in the neighbor-
hood all through the summer, and the
later blooming flowers will be there
! to greet the children on their return
| to school in the fall. This schoo
raised $40 from a concert given by the
| Boys band. and smaller sum from
q candy sale, the money in both cases
being raised to beautify the school
and grounds. The Columbia school
also has a rose garden, the plants in
this case being brought by the pupils
| The Lincoln school has the prize lawn
| There is fine stretch of greensward
about the building, broken only by sew
eral beds of choice roses. The Vege-
table gardens show the popular rad
ish, lettuce, onions, peas and some to-
mato plants. There are sturdy look
ing bcetS and some fine lettuce among
other things in the Barge garden. The
Summit View gardeners this year
have their plot in the school yard in
stead of across the street as last year
( and though they have trouble with the
unworked ground, things are coming
on nicely. The Fairview gardens are
iiourishing finely and report has it
that Fairview and Central are run
ming neck and neck for the prize.