Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-03-12
NOME GARDENING.

NOME GARDENING.
Home gardening directed by the
school is offered by DR.. P. P. Claxton,
U. s. commissioner of education. as
a solution for some of the most press
ing educational and economic prob
lens in city and suburban life. Dr.
Claxton would have every vacant town
lot transformed into a garden Where
boys and girls would raise vegetables,
berries, and fruit for pleasure and for
profit. He would have one teacher IN
the community employed. twelve
months in the year to teach elementary
science in school and direct the home
garden work after school, on Saturdays
and during the summer vacation
"Of the 100000 children between
the ages of and 20 in the Cities
towns, manufacturing villages, and SUI
burban communities of the United
States" says DR.. Claxton. mot more
Is per cent are away from home dur
Ing the summer vacation or engaged
in regular employment. The remain
ine IS per cent remain at home with
out any useful, healthful, productive
occupation requiring any large part
Of their time. On the other hand,
there Is much valuable land in back
yards and vacant lots that is serving
no useful purpose. The propiem ls
to bring this land and these children
together.
"In every school and community
there should be at least one teacher
who knows gardening, both theoretic-
ally and practically. This teacher
should teach the elementary sciences
IN the schools during the school hours
and should, out of school hours, direct
the home gardening of the children Pc
tween the ages of and and IA or 15
II possible the teacher should have the
assistance of an expert gardener, so
fine work may be done in the most
practical and profitable way. me
teacher and the gardner should help
the children find the plots of ground in
hack yards, front yards, and vacant
lots near their homes best suited for
gardening work aid them by some co.
lucrative method to have the lots prop
erlv plowed and prepared for cultlva-
ton. help them select seeds. show
them how to plant, cultivate and har-
vest. so as to obtain the best results.
vegetables, berries and fruits
crown should be used first as food for
the children and their families then
the surplus should be marketed to the
hest advantage. Through the help of
the teacher this can be done in CO.
operative way. Ten or hfteen cents
worth of vegetables each day from the
gardens Of each of 200 children would
amount to $40 or $780, In the summer
and fall when the surplus is large and
can not be marketed to advantage, the
teacher should direct and help the chill
dren in canning and preserving for
winter use for sale. The canning
and tomato clubs of the southern
states have already shown what can be
done in this way. .....
eft is difficult to estimate the re-
suits of this plan when it shall be IN
fill operation throughout the country.
For the children it will mean health,
JOY in work, habits of indus
try an understanding of the value of
money as measured in terms of LABOR,
and such knowledge of the phenomena
and forces of nature as must be had Tor
an understanding of most OF their
school lessons. They will also learn !
something at least of the fundamental
principle of morality: that each indi-
yjdual must make his or her own liv.
ing: must, by some kind of labor OF .
head, hand, or heart, contribute 10 the
common wealth as much as ne takes
from it; must pay for what he gets IN
some kind OF coin.
.'This plan in full operation would
probably do more toward keeping the
Young children out of the factories and
mills than all of the child-labor laws
on the statute books A boy of 10 or
12 years of age with quarter OF an
acre of land. working under careful
direction, can produce more for the
support Of the family than could be
with the child's wages from l!
the mill. Children should not be
ground In the mills nor sweated In the
factories; their strength should not be
sapped and their nerves racked by /,
working in the heat and dust OF IN
doors, yet all children should learn TO
work; it is good for them and they JOY
in it. To work with it's feet In the
soil. it's head in the sunshine and its
lungs filled with good fresh air is not
q bad thing for any healthy child.
In the estimate submitted to con-
gress by the commissioner of educa- J
ton for the support of the bureau in
the next fiscal year an item of $500 I
is included to enable the bureau to
begin the introduction of this kind of
work in the schools Of the United
States. The commissioner believes that
it will only be necessary to work out
details OF plans and to present them to
l,chool officers together with full in |
formation in regard to results of some !
whar similar work already done at |
various places.