The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1921-02-04
GARDENING SCHOOL
The New York Botanical Garden
Set Aside For That Purpose

NG" INN SO4dlCIS WnO d.
being taught practical gardening at
the New York Botanical Garden are
finding both profit and enjoyment in
their work. There is today" N. L.
Britton, Director of the Botanical
Garden, said. "a real scarcity of
trained gardeners everywhere. Here
tofore most OF the gardeners have
been British, Dutch, or Germans,
trained in gardening, before coming
10 America. Since Immigration has
ceased the demand for gardeners
must in the future be filed by
Americans"
The student gardeners are young
men who served their country dur
ing the war and became disabled in
the service. Some were gassed.
others suffered from shell shock, and
two lost an arm. The school for
service men both officers and pri-
Yates attend was started last Janu-
airy when the Botanical Garden be-
came affiliated with the Federal
Board for Vocational Education for
the vocatinal training of GONZALES
cent soldiers and sailors m practical
gardening. The Government pays
the tuition fee and board of the men
Students who complete a two years
course at the school will receive
certificate.
During the war wages paid 70
gardeners steadily increased. Al
though they do not yet equal the
wages of workers in some industrial
pursuits, the gardener has much to
compensate him. He lives in pleas
ant and healthful surroundings and
does the sort of work that is con-
ducive to good health and clean liv-
ing. If he is gardener on a private
estate, he often has a house, rent
free, and his own little vegetable
garden. Gardeners today receive
from SIS to sos a month. A fore
man gardener receives from $1,20e
TO $4,000 years and a gardener who
is Superintendent of wealthy mans
country estate may receive as much
as $4,000 per annum. The pay of a
gardener depends to a large extent
on his practical knowledge of garden
ing and his usefulness, and a garden
er who is a highly trained specialist
can command good salary.
The grounds of the Botanical
Garden are ideally adapted for the
student gardener. They occupy
nearly 400 acres of Bronx Park, and
with their wealth of plant life offer
an object lesson in all details of OUT
door gardening. There are two ex-
tensive ranges of greenhouses, one
of which is the largest glasshouse
in the country. Within the park are
also the extensive glasshouses Of the
Park Department in which the STU
dent may observe the propagation of
plants and their cultivation. The
Botanical Garden also has large
library of horticultural books and
laboratories and equipment for in
door class work.
Students receive instruction from
the staff of the Botanical Garden and
officers of other institutions. The
work is of three kinds. Under the
head gardener and his foreman, they
spend about one-half their time in
actual practical work, including the
subjects outlined in the schools cur
riculum. On one or two days of
each week, members Of the garden
staff or other specialists present
lectures or demonstrations on sub
Jects of interest to gardeners. The
remainder of the time is spent in
class work, and students learn from
lectures and laboratory study the
fundamental principles OF the sci
ences upon which successful garden
ing is based. The school holds six
hour sessions FIVE days a week, and
a certain amount of reading is map
ped out for the student.
The curriculum comprises the fol.
lowing subjects: Greenhouse prac-
tice, elementary botany, garden boz
tany, special lectures, vegetable and
fruit gardening, flower gardening,
garden zoology, garden carpentry,
plant physiology, plant chemistry
and soils. There are also lectures
and demonstrations on care of trees
and lawns, fertilizers, drainage, for
estry, native wild plants, tropical
gardening, tropical botany, old world
gardens, uses of plant products. can.
ming and preserving and other sub.
jects.
The school is not composed who'll
ly OF men from the service. A civil
ian may attend by paying the tuition
fee of SIS month At present the
school has three civilians, two of
whom are women