Evening star., 1940-03-03

uCCldICQ.
the Keystone Automobile Club, said
'eaSe as a traffic safety measure in
ring the spring and summer.
d to Meet.
de Is still considering the increase
demanded by the other organiza-
tions. The trade boards subcommit-
tee on school buildings and costs
went on record as whole -heartedly
approving restoration of the Lost
$2,40O. The subcommittee report.
asking that the School Committee
be given authority to follow the
matter through the Senate and
House Appropriations Subcommit-
tees was approved by the Public
Schools Committee and now awaits
the, action of the Board of Directors
OF the Board of Trade, which will
meet soon.
The present crisis, brought about
by insufficient funds and lack of
labor to do the heavy work in the
gardens, is not the first m the his
tory of school gardens.
, The project was started in 1902
Three years ago it was threatened
with discontinuance because of a
1O-cent putt-putt boat and some
toy balloons. The Budget Bureau
had asked for $4,000 for elementary
science work which includes the
school gardens. The House Subcom-
mittee on Appropriations, reporting
to the House, cited the toy vessel
and the balloonS-used to demon
state physics-in recommending that
the item be postponed indefinitely.
The Senate restored the item but all
lowed only s2,400 and there the mat
ter has stood ever since.
65 Schools Have Gardens.
While the appropriation for school
gardens, once $4,000, has decreased,
the number of schools with gardens
has been on the increase until at
the present time 81 white schools
and II coloSed schools have gar
dens In 1920 when the fund was
$4,000 there were only 16 school
gardens.
For those 16 gardens there were
10 teachers and two laborers and at
that time the elementary schools
included the seventh and eighth
grades, with the older children able
to do some of the heavy work. Now
there are six teachers, one laborer
and the children are too small to
do a laborer's work.
According to Miss Esther Scott,
who is in charge of elementary
science in the schools, many of the
schools without gardens are de-
manding that the project be ex-
tended to their schools. With the
$4,000, she said, the project would
not only be expanded but funds
would be provided to improve the
teaching of science in the schools,
for which the gardens are outdoor
laboratories.
Miss Florence Mortimer, principal
of the Wheatley School, which
boasts model garden, considers
the school gardens more necessary
than anything else in the school
system
Help for Children.
II have seen what the gardens
do for the children" she declared.
THE gardens are one of the best
character-building projects we've
ever had. The children learn to
appreciate each others property
When boy has created a garden
himself, he wouldn't think of de-
stroying anybody else's garden"
The gardens, she said, not only
provide healthy outdoor exercise
but keep the children off the street
in the summertime. The children
come to the school to meet the gar
den teacher during the summer
recess.
And there's always a long wait
ing line Of children who Just come
to see If anybody is absent so they
can work in the gardens for that
day" she added.
Ihe children, she said, also carry
their garden education into their
own homes. The alleys of Northeast
Washington reveal vistas OF bloom
ing gardens, she went on, where the
children have created gardens in
their own back yards.
A hint of the difficulties under
which the teachers have worked in
building the school gardens is re-
Vealed in the story OF the compost
pile at Wheatley School.
Funds Insufficient.
Limited funds provided by the
parent-teacher groups must be
spread thinly over the many school
gardens, so there is little money to
buy seeds and tools, to Ssy nothing
OF fertilizer. To provide fertilizer
for an acre of ground a compost pile
Is made each year.
The single laborer for all the gar
dens came to the school In Deem
Der and started the compost pile.
The National Park Service sent
several truckloads of leaves and
dumped them to be built into the
compost pile. Cinders from the
school furnace were added to the
pile. And nothing has been done
since. The laborer, with "a schools
to worry about, hasn't returned. So
100 feet OF the Wheatley gardens are
covered with cinders and leaves
which have never been made into
fertilizer.
Without fertilizer, without labor to
spade the ground so it can be
planted, the Wheatley school chill
dren who look forward to their
hours IN the garden are worried
That's what lack of funds has
meant to the garden that was once
q neighborhood dumping ground