El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-06-25

enterprise on a commercial or business
basis The child with a garden en-
bracing $500 square feet or over is
able TO raise at least SO worth of pro-
duce and to obtain fair idea Of the
possibilities Of gardening. Such
proposition tends to broaden the ehild's
vision.
The home garden also is usually
large enough to keep the child occupied
while out Of school and at an Occupa-
ton that is wholesome and under the
eve OF the rents. 1t provides at
ship between parent and child and en-
courages the idea Of mutual helpful
ness.
Teachers Employed Il Months.
an general the bureaus recommen-
dation to schools regarding home
garden work is TO engage in each
graded school one teacher who is pre-
pared by training and experience to
take charge Of the garden work for the
whole school Such teacher should be
engaged for u months and with the
understanding that she should devote
the regular number Of hours to teach
ing the usual school subjects, or better,
all the elementary science subjects in
several grades, and that the garden
work should be done after school hours,
on Saturdays and holidays, and during
the summer vacation. Arrangements
vacation TO the garden teacher during
the winter. Such a teacher will demand
a higher salary to compensate her for
the extra service In a large city
where many such teachers have been
employed the services Of a garden
specialist as supervisor would be help
fuL
IN the larger schools. where the
enrolment exceeds three hundred one
or more additional teachers will be
Co. eh
be expected TO supervise properly more
than about $50 back yard gardens TX
perience has shown that as much pro-
duce can be raised from this number
Of well-supervised dgardens as from
twice the number of gardens made
quately supervised.
Getting Land.
'The teacher should assist the pupils
by way Of securing land when back
yards are not available Nearby va
cant lots may usually be procured Tor
the purpose The teacher also assists
the children in planning their gardens
and ordering their seed in advance OF
the planting season She 1nsIructs
them in the starting of plants in the
window in hOt-beds and she DOMAIN
strates the methods OF fertilizing, spad-
ing. raking. hoeing, watering, wedding,
thinning, marketing, and canning.
Early in the season she works with
groups Of children. One afternoon she
will announce that the children in
certain block will meet in John Smiths
back yard for a demonstration IN pre-
pairing the soil and planting the seeds.
The following afternoon she VIII re-
peat the performance in Mary JOnes's
back yard for the benefit OF the
children in that section This program
is continued until the field has been
covered. After the spring rush she
works with the individuals, making
sure that they are keeping up sue
cession Of cropping and are making the
very best use OF their land and their
efforts"
Available Here.
These recommendations, according to
DR.. Jarvis. are intended for the ordi-
nary CITY school. In a few Of the larger
cities. on account Of an absence OF
back Yards the plan can not be worked
ont perfectly. but in most cities there
are more back yards and vacant lots
available than is generally believed In
the more congested cities the effort
should be to approach as nearly as pos
sible this ideal All the available land
should be utilized and the typical
school-garden with its small plots may
be the nearest approach The re-
sourceful teacher usually will find a
way -. -,
who are interested in the promotion
Of this important work will bend Jnelr
efforts toward standardlzlng the gar
den work in schools