Gardening for women

I very much regret that the information I can now send is far from complete as regards the whole Dominion. Our committee on education is not really in working order, only two members—both from Ontario cities—having been appointed by “local councils,” so that I have myself had to collect facts from the other provinces without having local knowledge to guide me. In Canada educational matters are subject entirely to provincial control, and the system differs in the various provinces, so there is no Central Bureau of information at Ottawa. The following statements may, I think, be relied upon as correct as far as they go.

1. Nature-Study is taught to some extent in the public schools all over Canada (I am not quite sure about Quebec, about which my information is imperfect, but I believe it is probably true of that province also). In Nova Scotia, which is a fairly representative province in such matters, nature-study occupies a part of every day in all the schools, and so far as my own observation goes, it seems to be taught sensibly, and in a way to interest the children; they are made familiar with the growth of plants, the habits of insects, the appearance, songs, and migration of the different kinds of birds, etc., and are encouraged in making simple nature-observation for themselves. In the higher grades this teaching merges into more specifically agricultural and scientific work.

2. School gardens are becoming more numerous throughout Canada; Ontario probably takes the lead in this respect. Sir William Macdonald, who is devoting very large sums to the development of the more practical side of education, has inaugurated a number of school gardens in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and (I think) British Columbia.

As of possible interest in this connection, I may mention a plan carried out by the Halifax Local Council of Women to encourage a love of gardening among city children. Seeds of six hardy varieties of flowers are bought wholesale in the spring, and sold through the school teachers to children desiring them at cost price. Each child for six cents (threepence) got a package containing small packages of the six kinds of seed, and simple printed directions for sowing and caring for them. An exhibition of flowers grown from these seeds was held in the month of August, and prizes given for the best bouquets, and also for “compositions” on the raising of flowers. Last year some 6,000 children bought the seeds, and the exhibition of flowers was quite remarkable, even the children from the poorer parts of the city having done remarkably well. I am in hopes other “local councils” will follow us in this work.

3. In regard to the status and prospects of professional women gardeners in Canada, I have been unable to get much information. Few, if any women here, have deliberately chosen this calling as their life’s work. It must be remembered that almost every woman living in the country in Canada, whether married or not, has to do a large part, often all, of her own housework, servants of any kind being, except in the towns, almost unobtainable—in the North-West Provinces absolutely so; this renders it difficult for her to undertake outdoor work that would occupy a great part of her time. I think all gentlewomen thinking of settling in the rural parts of Canada should fully realise the bearings of that most troublesome enigma, “the servant problem,” which we have in its extremest form in this country. Apart from this I should imagine that gardening, in the neighbourhood of a good market, might be carried on by women with very satisfactory results—some capital and good business ability being supposed.

I do not think there would be at present many openings in Canada for lady teachers of gardening, as such subjects as “nature-study,” etc., are taught in the public schools by teachers of other subjects, and in the private schools (which, though the wealthier parents send their children to them, are generally inferior from a pedagogical point of view to the public or free schools) nature-study is very little attended to.

A career for women that might offer inducements to some is that of “orchardist,” which in Nova Scotia especially pays well, and is in many ways agreeable. I know of many married women who assist their husbands in the apple orchards, and at least one, a widow, I think, who owns and manages a large orchard with great success; and there are probably many others. Of course, capital is required, and some knowledge of local conditions.

4. In regard to opportunities for the education of lady gardeners, I may say that in all agricultural and other colleges supported by public money women are received and taught on precisely the same terms as men. This includes the Agricultural College at Truro, Nova Scotia, Prince of Wales College, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (which has agricultural courses), the Agricultural College at Guelph, Ontario, and the Macdonald College at St. Anne, Bellevue, Quebec. The latter is said to be the most advanced and well-equipped institution of its kind in America.

THE MACDONALD SCHOOL GARDENS

In the spring of 1904 a group of school gardens went into operation in each of the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. These school gardens are associated with Sir William C. Macdonald’s plans for the improvement of Canadian schools, and they constitute a notable feature of the general scheme devised by Professor James W. Robertson, director of the Macdonald educational movement.

At a meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in 1890, a paper on horticultural education for children was read by Mr. Henry Lincoln Clapp, master of George Putnam School, Roxbury, Mass. At this school a garden was established the following year as a result of the interest awakened. This garden, which appears to have been the first of its kind in the United States, was devoted exclusively to native wild plants until 1901, when a vegetable plot was added. Here and there within the past decade, and with various objects in view, the idea has been employed by private citizens, charitable associations, commercial firms, horticultural societies, and a few educational institutions, but as yet the school garden has not become an organic feature of any state system of education.

In Canada the school garden idea has also received some recognition prior to the Macdonald movement. For several years a very successful and quite extensive garden for boys has been conducted at Broadview, Toronto, by Captain Atkinson, of the Boys’ Brigade Institute. Here and there throughout the Dominion, floriculture has been encouraged to some extent in the elementary schools. Under the aggressive advocacy of Dr. A. H. MacKay, Superintendent of Education, whose faith in all branches of nature-study has been fully justified by his works, Nova Scotia has taken a leading place in establishing school gardens. In 1903 there were 52 school gardens in the province. Last July 79 in all were reported. The special courses in agriculture and nature-study, recently provided for teachers, has had a considerable influence in promoting the school garden movement, though outside the Macdonald gardens few are yet more than temporary efforts of the teacher for the time being.

It is apparent that three leading motives underlie the origin and growth of school gardens in Europe:—(1) to provide a convenient means of supplementing the teachers’ income, thereby simplifying the problem of maintaining the public school; (2) to promote a practical knowledge of horticulture and agriculture, thereby increasing the national prosperity; (3) to furnish means and material for the practical study of botany as a desirable department of scientific knowledge.

The vast majority of European school gardens look to utility. Of the few that recognise the importance of the educational end, nearly all stop short at the acquisition of a certain amount of scientific information and the habit of careful observation. On the other hand, the Macdonald School Gardens, while designed to encourage the cultivation of the soil as an ideal life-work, are intended to promote above all things else symmetrical education of the individual. They do not aim at education to the exclusion of utility, but they seek education through utility, and utility through education. The garden is the means, the pupil is the end. The Macdonald School Gardens are a factor in an educational movement, and for this reason Professor Robertson sought to have them brought under the Education Department, and not under the Department of Agriculture, in each province. The fact that the various provinces already referred to have passed orders in council incorporating the Macdonald School Gardens into their educational systems at once places these school gardens on a broader educational basis than that occupied by the school gardens of any other state or country.

The Ontario Government has provided special courses at Guelph to train teachers in the practical educational aspects of this new work. An initial grant of one hundred dollars, as well as an annual grant, is offered to any rural school section establishing a school garden. At Truro, and elsewhere in the Maritime Provinces, suitable courses for teachers are also provided. In New Brunswick, annual grants of thirty dollars to the Board of Trustees are given where a garden is established at an elementary school. In Quebec, extensive preparations for the training of teachers in the new lines of education are under way.

The Macdonald School Gardens not only have a recognised place in the provincial systems of education, but they are attached to the ordinary rural schools, owned by the school corporation and conducted under the authority of the school trustees and the express approval of the ratepayers.

The work of the garden is recognised as a legitimate part of the school programme, and it is already interwoven with a considerable part of the other studies. The garden is becoming the outer classroom of the school, and the plots are its blackboards. The garden is not an innovation, or an excrescence, or an addendum, or a diversion. It is a happy field of expression, an organic part of the school in which the boys and girls work among growing things and grow themselves in body and mind and spiritual outlook.

The true relation of the garden to the school has been in good part established by the travelling instructors whom Professor Robertson appointed to supervise the work in each province. These instructors were chosen as teachers of experience in rural schools, and were sent for special preparation, at the expense of the Macdonald fund, to Chicago, Cornell, Columbia, and Clark universities, and to the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph.

THE SCHOOL GARDENS OF CARLETON COUNTY, ONTARIO

The county of Carleton was selected by Prof. Robertson for the initiation of school gardens in Ontario, and the work that is being carried on here is typical of what is being done in the other four provinces. In all five gardens have been established under the Macdonald fund in Carleton County. Two of these are placed at Carp and Galetta, points on the Canada Atlantic Railway, distant twenty and thirty-three miles respectively from Ottawa. A third is located at Richmond, a small incorporated village in the heart of the county, distant from the capital about twenty miles by stage. The remaining gardens are situated at North Gower and Bowesville, the former about twenty-five miles and the latter five miles from the city. As the five schools at which these gardens have been established are from seven to fifteen miles apart, the experiment is being brought fairly under the scrutiny of the entire county. The garden at Richmond is within a short distance of the grounds of the County Agricultural Society, and will annually be open to the inspection of many hundred visitors to the fair. Already the gardens have attracted much local attention, and last autumn the products of the gardens won about a hundred dollars in prizes, given both by the agricultural societies and by private citizens who have taken a generous interest in this educational experiment.

After full discussion with trustees and ratepayers each garden was established under the direct approval and control of the school board concerned, and in harmony with the already existing regulations of the Education Department, which provide in a general way for instruction in agriculture and nature-study, and also for enlarging school grounds. It is worthy of note that while the ratepayers interested were not indifferent to the question of expense involved, they paid special attention to the fact that they were being asked to take up an experiment of a very novel nature which required a marked departure from the beaten path of elementary school work. Thus the educational aspects of school gardens were specially considered, the result being that the people have taken up the enterprise with an open-minded interest that has already carried the experiment far on the way to success.

The size of the gardens, including the usual school grounds, is in each case two acres, excepting the garden at Richmond, which contains three acres. Where additional land had to be acquired, the Macdonald fund bore half the cost, as also the whole cost of fencing and preparing the garden, erecting garden shed and providing the necessary tools, etc. The cost of maintenance of the garden is likewise met by the Macdonald fund for a period of three years. For the same period Sir William Macdonald pays the salary of the travelling instructor, Mr. J. W. Gibson, who visits each garden one day per week to assist the teachers in directing the garden work of the pupils, to give lessons in certain practical aspects of nature-study, and generally to encourage the association of the garden work with the ordinary exercises of the classrooms.

One of the most useful accessories to the school garden is the garden shed, which is used for storing tools and produce, and for carrying on work not suited to the classroom, such as preparing tickets and labels, analysing soils, assorting seeds, arranging plants, etc. The average cost of the garden sheds is about seventy-five dollars. They are of various shapes and sizes, according to the number of pupils to be accommodated. A popular plan is that of a shed, ten feet by twenty feet, with an extension on one side about five feet wide, and finished as a greenhouse. This obviates the necessity of having special hot-beds. The garden tools are disposed along the walls of the shed in places numbered to accord with the numbering of the pupils’ plots. Along one side of each shed is a bench or table of plain boards, about eighteen inches wide, running close to the wall, along which are several small windows giving abundant light to pupils engaged in practical work.

The chief tools and implements requisite to the school garden are hoes, rakes, hand weeders, garden lines, one or two spades and shovels, a wheelbarrow, hammer, saw, nails, etc. The pupils, as a rule, require only hoes, rakes and hand weeders. Those pupils who are sufficiently mature to work a plot by themselves, or along with a companion, can get along very well with hoes and rakes of the average size. In one case, where smaller tools were supplied, the pupils abandoned them after a little practice for those of the standard size.

While the plan of laying out the gardens varies according to soil, surface and location, the arrangement of the Bowesville garden suggests the general features that have been kept in view. These include a belt of ornamental native trees and shrubs surrounding the grounds two walks, each about one hundred yards long, between rows of trees a playground about half an acre in area for boys; a lawn of about a quarter of an acre for the girls, bordered with some light and graceful shade, such as the cut-leaf birch; a small orchard, in which are grown a few varieties of the fruit trees most profitable to the district; a forest plot, in which the most important Canadian trees will be grown from seed and by transplanting; a plot for cultivating the wild herbs, vines and shrubs of the district; space for individual plots and special experimental plots; an attractive approach to the school, including open lawn, large flowering plants, foliage, rockery, ornamental shrubs, etc.

The special experimental plots are, as a rule, larger than the individual plots. They are used for such purposes as the special study of rotation of crops, values of fertilisers, effects of spraying, selection of seeds, merits of soils, productiveness and quality of different varieties of crops, and many other similar subjects. At one school a special study was made of corn, clover, tomatoes, and cabbage at another beans, peas, beets, and potatoes occupied the experimental plots; and at still another, some extra attention was given to plots of pumpkins, squash, cabbage, and cauliflower. At all the gardens special plots will be devoted to small fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, and currants. The experimental plots vary in area from 200 to 2,000 square feet, but where the extent of ground is restricted the experiments may be successfully carried out on plots of a much smaller average size.

The gardens are managed throughout on the basis of individual ownership, individual effort and individual responsibility on the part of the pupils. At all the gardens the pupils are given plots that are solely their own. According to the age and strength of the pupils, these plots vary in size from 72 square feet to 120 square feet. At some schools each pupil has two plots, one for vegetables, etc., and the other for flowers. In other cases the flowers and vegetables are kept in different parts of the same plot. The former plan presents no inconvenience, and is found to contribute to the general appearance of the garden. At one of the school gardens the pupils’ plots were uniformly 10 feet wide by 20 feet in length, each plot being worked in partnership, a junior pupil working with a senior pupil in each case. Though very good results were secured by this method, the instructor considers the individual method preferable, and will pursue it in future.

NOVA SCOTIA

LOCAL “NATURE” OBSERVATIONS

This sheet is provided for the purpose of aiding teachers to interest their pupils in observing the times of the regular procession of natural phenomena each season. First, it may help the teacher in doing some of the “Nature” lesson work of the Course of Study; secondly, it may aid in procuring valuable information for the locality and province. Two copies are provided for each teacher who wishes to conduct such observations, one to be preserved as the property of the section for reference from year to year; the other to be sent in with the return to the inspector, who will transmit it to the superintendent for examination and compilation.

What is desired is to have recorded in these forms the dates of the first leafing, flowering and fruiting of plants and trees; the first appearance in the locality of birds migrating north in spring or south in autumn, etc. While the objects specified here are given so as to enable comparison to be made between the different sections of the province, it is very desirable that other local phenomena of a similar kind be recorded. Every locality has a flora, fauna, climate, etc., more or less distinctly its own; and the more common trees, shrubs, plants, crops, etc., are those which will be most valuable from a local point of view in comparing the characters of a series of seasons.

Teachers will find it one of the most convenient means for the stimulation of pupils in observing all natural phenomena when going to and from the school, and some pupils radiate as far as two miles from the schoolroom. The “nature-study” under these conditions would thus be mainly undertaken at the most convenient time, without encroaching on school time; while on the other hand it will tend to break up the monotony of school travel, fill an idle and wearisome hour with interest, and be one of the most valuable forms of educational discipline. The eyes of a whole school daily passing over a whole school section will let very little escape notice, especially if the first observer of each annually recurring phenomenon receives credit as the first observer of it for the year. The observations will be accurate, as the facts must be demonstrated by the most undoubted evidence, such as the bringing of the specimens to the school when possible or necessary.

To all observers the following most important, most essential principles of recording are emphasised: Better no date, NO RECORD, than a WRONG ONE or a DOUBTFUL one. Sports out of season due to very local conditions not common to at least a small field, should not be recorded except parenthetically. The date to be recorded for the purposes of compilation with those of other localities should be the first of the many of its kind following immediately after it. For instance, a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis in a sheltered cranny by a southern window in January would not be an indication of the general climate, but of the peculiarly heated nook in which the chrysalis was sheltered; nor would a flower in a semi-artificial, warm shelter give the date required. When these sports out of season occur, they might also be recorded, but within a parenthesis to indicate the peculiarity of some of the conditions affecting their early appearance.

These schedules should be sent in to the inspector with the annual school returns in July, containing the observations made during the whole school year and back as far as the preceding July (if possible), when the schedule of the previous school year was necessarily completed and sent in.

A duplicate copy of the schedule of observations should be securely attached to the school register for the year, so that the series of annual observations may be preserved in each locality. The new register has a page for such records.

Remember to fill in carefully and distinctly the date, locality, and other blanks at the head of the schedule on the next page; for if either the date or the locality or the name of the responsible compiler should be omitted the whole paper is worthless and cannot be bound up for preservation in the volume of The Phenological Observations.

PHENOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, CANADA

(1906 Schedule)

For the year ending July, 190.

AUSTRALIA

VICTORIA

SCHOOL OF HORTICULTURE IN RICHMOND PARK, MELBOURNE

The site covers 33 acres of ground. In 1890 the Government decided to start here an institution for the training of orchardists and small settlers, and during the past eight years much has been done to provide for teaching the regular and casual students, and those visitors calling in search of special information. Classroom instruction is given in horticultural science, vegetable pathology, botany, physical and commercial geography, entomology; measuring, levelling, designing, and plotting of homesteads, orchards, small farm and garden areas, and the most approved methods of raising and managing fruit trees and plants. Practical work includes the propagation and management of orchard trees, citrons, table grapes, bush fruits; harvesting, storing, packing, marketing, drying and canning fruit; vegetable culture; clearing, grading, and trenching land; management of soils, manures, drainage, and villa gardening.

The principal and his assistant carry out this programme by affording lessons daily in the classroom and field. In 1899 women students were first admitted. They have for the most part devoted their attention to the designing and making of villa gardens, vegetables and herb culture, and the special cultivation of table grapes and lemons—branches of commercial horticulture most suited to women. Previous to 1903 instruction was free, but a fee of £5 per annum is now charged. There is a steady advance in the number of students, and every indication of the school doing generally helpful work in the service of the State.

The school year extends from February to December.

NEW SOUTH WALES

“We are a young community and also a small one, otherwise we should have had at least a small college for lady gardeners ere now,” is the answer that comes to my inquiry on the subject. I am told, however, that there is fine scope for such a thing, and that the women of New South Wales are quite ready for it. Up to now they have chiefly confined themselves to bettering the conditions of labour in those departments voluntarily sought by women, rather than to forming new schemes.

TASMANIA

Accounts which come to us of the possibilities of the successful cultivation of fruits, trees and plants are all favourable. The mildness of the winter and the great amount of sunshine cause very rapid growth and production of fruit. Plants that will not survive an English winter need no protection here. We learn, too, that the acreage of gardens and orchards is steadily on the increase.

There are so far no training schools for lady gardeners, and no posts are held by them either in private gardens or market gardens. The jam factories employ women, but these belong to the working classes. Nothing definite can therefore be held out as to the future for lady gardeners, beyond the certainty that the more directing heads we have, superintending the development of these orchards and gardens, the more successful they will be.