16
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
Gardening Directed by the School
Town Lots Transformed Into Gardens for Raising Vegetables
by Boys and Girls.
READ EVERY WORD!!
HOME gardening directed by the
school is offered by Dr. P. P. Clax
ton, United States commissioner of
education, as a solution for some of
the most pressing educational and
economic problems 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 pleas
ure and profit He would have one
teacher in the community employed 12
months in the year to teach elemen
tary science in school and direct '.he
home garden work after school, on Sat
urdays and during the summer vaca
tion. Many Back Yard Garden.
- "Of the 13,000,000 children between
the ages of 6 and 20 in the cities, towns,
manufacturing villages and suburban
communities of the United States,"
ays Dr. Claiton, "not more than 15
pei cent are away from home during
the summer vacation or engaged in reg
ular employment. The remaining 85 per
cent remain at home without any useful,
healthful, productive occupation requir
ing any largo 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 prob
lem is to bring this land and these chil
dren together.
"In every school and community
there should be at least one teacher
who knows gardening, both theoretical
ly and practically. This teacher should
teach the elementary sciences in the
schools daring the school hours and
shoadd, ont of school hours, direct the
tome gardening of the children be
tween ths ages of 7 or 8 and U or IS.
If possible, the teacher should hive the
assistance of an expert gardener, so
that the work may be done in the most
practical and profitable way. The
taeher aad the gardener shonld help
the children find the plots of ground in
back yards, front yards and vacant lots
ear their homes best suited for gar
dening work, aid them by some co
operative method to have the lots prop
erly plowed and prepared for cultiva
tion, help them select seeds, show them
how to plant, cultivate and harvest so
as to obtain the best results.
Products For Home Use.
"Vegetables, berries and fruits grown
should be nsed first as food for the chil
dren and their families; then the sur
plus should be marketed to the best ad
vantage. Through the help of the
teacher this can be done in a co-opera
tive way. Ten or 15 cents worth of
vegetables each day from the gardens of
each of 200 children would amount to
$20 or $30. In the summer and fall when
the surplus is large and cannot be mar
keted to advantage, the teacher should
direct and help the children in canning
and preserving for winter use or for
sale. The canning and tomr.to clubs of
the southern states have already shown
what can be done in this way.
"It is difficult to estimate the re
sults of this plan when it-shall be in
full operation throughout the country.
lor the children it will meau health
strength, joy in work, habits of indus
try, an understanding of tie value of
money as measured in terms of labor,
and such knowledge of the phenomena
and force of nature as must be had
for an understanding of most of their
school lessons. Thoy will also learn
something at least of the fundamental
principle of morality; that each indi
vidoal mnst make his .r her own living;
most, by some kiad of labor of head,
hand or heart, contribute to the com
mon wealth as much as he takes from
it; must pay for what he gets in some
kind of coin.
Prevents Factory Work.
"This, plan in full operation would
probably do more toward keeping young
children out of the factories and mills
than all of the child-labor laws on the
statute books. A boy 10 or 12 years of
age, with a quarter of an acre of land,
working under careiul direction, can pro
dace more for the suppor' of the family
than could be purchased with the Child's
wages from the mill. Children should
not be ground in the mills nor sweated
U the factories; their strength should
aot to app' Be,r -rvea racked
by working ta the neat and dust of in
doors, yet all. children should learn to
work; it is goo a tor tnem ana tftey joy
in it. To work with its feet u: tat toil,
its head in the sunshine and its lungs
filled with good fresh air is not a bad
thing for any healthy child.
"Probably one of the most valuable
results of this plan would be to make
it easy for most children to attend
school three or four years longer than
they now do, a thing more and more
desirable, Biuco education for life and
citizenship in our industrial, civic and
social democracy cannot be obtained
before the age of adolescence. If a
child can contribute to its support
while in school, it may remain in school
much longer than if it must bo carried
as a dead weight until it quits school
to go to work.
Cost Inconsiderable.
"Compared with tho results, the cost
will be inconsiderable. No addition to
the number of teachers will be required.
It will only be necessary to require dif
ferent preparation for one teacher in
eaeh school."
In the estimates submitted to con
areas by the commissioner of educa
tion for the support of the bureau in
the next fiscal year an item of $5700
is included to enable the bureau to be
gin the introduction of this kind of
work in the schools or tne unueu
States. The commissioner believes that
it will only be necessary to work out
details of plans ana to present mem
to school officers, together with full
information in regard to results of
somewhat similar work already done at
various places.
Planting Corn for
Fodder
(Communicated.)
NOTICE on the cover of the Home
and Farm Magazine Section of June
27 an article stating that corn in
tended for fodder or silage is planted
much thicker than when raised for
grain. I know this is the opinion of a
great many people, but I will have to
differ with them. It is a weil-known
fact that the more grain there is in the
feed the better it is. If corn is planted
thick it will never make much ear. Of
course, if a roughage is all that is
wanted it may be well to plant some
thicker than for grain; but when
planting corn for silage, plant it and
tend it as though you were raising it
for the crib, for the more and larger
the ear the richer the feed. As to ton
nage per acre, you will get as many
tons as when planted thick, from the
fact that the stock and blades will be
larger and. heavier, and with the extra
weieht of the ear you will raise as
many tons or more than when planted
thick, and when it is cut up fine and
put in the silo the cattle will eat it up
clean, stock and all. I will say here
that the finest and richest corn suage
I ever saw was in a silo owned by a
Mr. Studing some five miles north of
Eugene, and this corn was raised for
the ear, and when one looked into the
silo the feed was yellow with the grain.
Mr. Studing used it as the grain ration
to fatten Us hogs, and with good suc
cess. But as I said before, if fodder is
all that is wanted, then planting thick
will do; but why be contented with
fodder alone when a good grain crop
can be raised at the same timet
Plant your corn and handle it as if
you were trying to raise prize winning
ears, is my advice, and you will have
a heavy tonnage and a rich feed.
D. W. OSBOBN. .
The state of Pennsylvania celebrates
two arbor days each year one for
sring planting and one for the fall in
April and October respectively.
Mr. Kancherl
Mr. Merchant!
Mr. Cattle Man! .
Mr. Hop Growerl
Mr. Fruit Grower!
Do you protect the amount of Dollars on your Bank
Checks against the CHECK RAISER?
Do you know that American Bank records show losses
through bad check men of $500,000 in 1900, $5,000,000 1906,
$15,000,000 in 1911 and the awful total of $23,000,000 in 1913 T
WHO! will be called on to stand this enormous yearly
lossf The Fanner! Yes, because most city business men now
use Check Protection. WHY do you, at a yearly expense,
protect your farm buildings, crops and stock against loss by
fire, storm and disease, YET! neglect to protect the total
cash receipts of all your hard work, your Bank account.
RIGHT NOW buy this $10.00 New Era Machine, it will
stamp in Red Indelible Ink the exact amount of your check
in Dollars, show it to your Banker, use it 30 days, then if
not satisfied your money will be returned without question.
Sign and Mail This Order.
COMMEKCE-TJTrLTTY CORPORATION,
411-12 13-14 15 Panama Building, ' ' '
Portland, Oregon.
Ship me one Robert H. Ingersoll New Era guaranteed Check Pro
tector a O. ft. $10.00 by Parcels Post, prepaid.
. Name.
Address.
WE ARE SO SURE
OF THE
QUALITY
OF
old SHel
a
Coffee
That we ask you to give Gold Shield a
trial, feeling that you will then insist
on Gold Shield when
buying coffee.
SCHWABACHER BROS.
& CO., Inc.
Importers and Roasters of Coffee
Seattle, Wash
ii 1i
LIFE
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