Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-21

enough for vegetable gardens. These
suburbanites have applied their scien.
tific skill to the worthwhile work of
food growing as enerCetically as they
did formerly on the Government land.
Many Of them sell the surplus vege.
tables which they produce to neigh
bors who do not maintain gardens.
y y
COMMUNITY or allotment gardens
have been historic in European
agriculture for centuries, England and
France. in particular, having fostered
this activity among the citiZenry of
large towns and cities. The notable
Pingree Potato Patch Plan, first tested
out in Detroit in 1894, during a pc
riod Of Industrial depression, intro
duced community gardening on an or.
ganized scale in this country. Phila-
delphia shortly after followed suit
with a Vacant Lots Cultivation Assoc
citation. School gardens in all parts
OF America were logical OutgroWths of
these pioneering projects.
Schools garden work in the District
was begun during the Winter of 1900.
under the direction Of Miss Susan B.
Sipe, normal teacher in the public
schools. Congress appropriated $1,000
to defray general expenses, and the
Department of Agriculture made Miss
Sipe a collaboration and provided a
special greenhouse as an indoor train
ing school.
The first outdoor gardens We're on
the crumbs of the Agriculture Depart
ment. During the war, adult garden.
| ing on parking lands along the Po-
| tomac was instituted. and at one time
| 200 Westinghouse raised food on a
Government tract Of 40 acres under
| Federal supervision.
| One meritorious development Of the
| Government gardens has been the
creation and upbuilding of the Civil
| tan Boys Garden Club. which now
| operates "a vegetable gardens on Fed
| eral land north of the eastern ter
minal Of the Anacostia Bridge. These
| Juvenile growers are wards OF the
Juvenile Protective Association. which
| is supervising the youngsters as re-
suit of co-operat tive arrangement
with the District Juvenile Court.
The boy gardeners range from ten
to fifteen years of age. The Wash
ingtOn Civilians employ two young
men, one n rehablitated soldier train.
| ed in gardening at the University of
| Maryland, to supervise the Junior
! farmers. These clubmen also pay the
| expenses of preparing the land and
| furnish the youngsters with hand
tools, seed and fertilizer. The boys
| plant the seed and tend the green
, crops. When the vegetables are ripe
enough to pick. little lads stagger
| homeward each Saturday evening I'M
! der the burden of heavy loads of
| food. The boys are allowed to sell
| any of the surplus vegetables which
! they grow above their home needs.
| They pack the onions, radishes and
! carrots in attractive punches, and
peddle them among neighboring fami-
lies.
The Civilian Club takes active inter
est in the juvenile food raisers, and
stages one or two picnics and frolics
for the youngsters each Summer.
Six bronze medals are awarded an
nually to the boys who have the best
attendance records and who perform
the finest all-around gardening work.
Formerly such prizes as knives,
! watches, books and tools We're pre-
scented to the record gardeners. Boy
nature indirectly asserted itself. and
proclaimed that it preferred substan-
tial medals which a fellow could pin on
his chest and show to his "buddies."
The boy farmers work individual
gardens. % by 80 feet in size where
they raise lettuce. onions. radishes.
heets. carrots. snap beans, dwarf
limas. tomat toes. cabba ges and turnips.
The portable tool house. by II feet
in floor dimension, where hand
utensils are stored at the Civilian
Boys Garden Club. was built by the
gardeners in their teens. under eX-
perienced direction. This shop on
skids can be loaded on a motor truck
and moved to any part of the District
where Uncle Sam suggests that fu-
ture gardening operations be central
ICED.
The East Side Garden Club. which
now has 60 active members and cul-
tivates an eight-acre tract near the
Pennsylvania Railroad bridge. is COM
posed of colored workers who are di
vided into groups under local leaders.
!! with the experts of the National De
partment of Agriculture overseeing
the food-producing enterprises. j. w.
NJ Austin, colored social worker.
| and j. l.. Butler, an employe of the
State Department for the last 80
years. are the champion producers of
the East Side Garden Club.