Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-30
Summer Work Begun With
Many Young Pupils.
DIRECTED By MISS SIPE
Vegetables and Flowers Raised on
Prepared Plats.
STUDENTS ARE ENTHUSIASTIC
Work Is Voluntary and Open to ALI
Who Wish to Take the
Course.

The voluntary gardening courses for
the several hundred public school children
who have elected to devote portion of
their time to the intricacies of horticul-
ture during the spring and summer
months is now in full swing. The work
is under the direction of Miss Susan Sipe
The object Of the pupils will be to COM
pete for the prizes which will be awarded
at the beginning of the fall term.
For several years past gardening. has
been regular feature of the summer
program of educational work. 1t began
in small way with the planting of flow
ers about the public school buildings.
where there was sufficient space to make
flower beds, and gradually increased until
large plots of school property were con-
verted into trucking establishments or
blooming flower gardens The natural in
clination of the children in the Majority
of ca ses, appears to be the production OF
vegetables.
Large Tracts Cultivated.
In order to allow this taste TO satisfy
itself on as large a scale as possible the
children have been permitted to turn
large tracts on a dozen or more school
grounds into extensive gardens, where
they may raise vegeta bles and flowers to
their hearts content. The larger plots
are located on the grounds at the Blow,
the Wallach. the Morgan, the Dent and
Ludlow schools. Special provision has
been made for the children from the Tow
ers School to utilize a plot of ground be-
tween the speedway and the river. 1t
is in these larger gardens that the ener-
igies of the children will be devoted during
no IA Ia nee Of the summer
The course they follow includes inStruc-
ton in practical garden making. hoeing,
plant development, plant care, seed Sc
lection and seed production. At each
during the season the pupils are instruct
ed in its care and the best methods of
bringing it to its highest development
The differences in growth and cultivation
of the several plant species among vege-
tables and flowers is also explained and
when occasion requires the instructors
give impromptu lectures on the rudiments
of botany.
Many of the children beginning the
courses in gardening are only ten years
old. yet their work has always been
creditable. In actual operation the tracts
are divided into symmetrically arranged
gardens. planted in practically every
vegetable raised in this section of the
country. Almost every phase of vege-
table culture can be seen, from the strips
more delicate plants, such as heading
lettuce, egg plant and diminutive green
peas. Here and there. between the grow
ing vegetables. are garden flowers in the
same commendable state of cultivation
as their edible neighbOrs.
Young Pupils Are Enthusiastic.
The enthusiasm of the children is prob
ably the most interesting part of the
course. Boys and girls work laboriously
over their respective gardens, either early
in the morning or late in the afternoon.
They are instructed by their teachers to
keep out of the heat of the midday sun.
Each pupil cares for the piece of ground
allotted to him to the minutest detail,
from the gathering of the weeds to the
daily watering of its growing plants.
The course is purely voluntary and is
designed to give the pupils who take 1t
an opportunity TO develop their taste for
gardening to as great an extent as pos
sibIe." said Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey,
a member of the board of education, who
is taking an especial interest in the work.
We have been very much gratified
with the results so far she continued.
land there is every reason to believe
that the good it is accomplishing is far
greater than many of us appreciate.
With very few exceptions every child who
starts a garden soon becomes an en-
thuSiaSt.