LAYTON S. HAWKINS, Chief Vocational Education Division.
UEL W. LAMKIN, Chief Rehabilitation Division.

Prepared under the direction of
WALTER I. HAMILTON,

Superintendent of Advisement and Training, Division of Rehabilitation. By WALTER J. QUICK, M. S., Ph. D., Training Officer, Agricultural Education.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

Acknowledgment is due Dr. W. R. Beattie, horticulturist, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, for suggestions, data, and illustrations; also to Dr. John Cummings of the Federal Board for Vocational Education for editorial assistance.

VOCATION.

Gardening has always been looked upon and recognized as an intensive farming effort on a comparatively small scale. From time immemorial, from the earliest writings, carvings, and legends, and in the Bible, we find mention of agriculture and horticulture, the latter specifically spoken of as gardening, referred to as a necessary part of the considerations for the livelihood or maintenance of every family. With the increase of families, of tribes, of nations-and the world's population-accompanied by the development of occupations and industries, it became impossible for all families to have their own gardens. The necessity of agricultural products for the food supply nevertheless increased. Thus gardening for the benefit of those otherwise employed became an industry of such importance and so intensified as to cause the establishment of "trade gardens," so called because of the exchange of their products for other necessities. Later, as civilization progressed, and money became a common means of exchange, these gardens were designated as market gardens, by which name they are known to-day.

The importance of gardening has grown rapidly, and has been greatly advanced by making its products available the year through by the introduction of cold storage, which can hardly be said to have been in general use more than two decades. Statistics prove the great value of the use of vegetables and fruits to the health of the human family, and the importance of these products in the diet is recognized by all classes.

WAR ADVANCES GARDENING.

The recent war involving some 40 nations, including the most important ones of the world, upset all commerce and cut off supplic upon which countries had come to depend, and has brought gardening into greater prominence than any other event in the world's history. With certain supplies curtailed or cut off altogether it became necessary to substitute something for the commonly imported commodity, or to supply that commodity from internal resources.

In the United States the recognition of the importance of agriculture and the interest it aroused brought into existence various emergency agencies for conserving and increasing the food supply. The 2,400 county agents of the extension service of the Department of Agriculture scattered over the country were an important factor in the promotion of home gardens. As a result of these garden movements the people of the United States to-day know more about gardening and the importance of vegetables than ever before. They know the value of a garden, the economy it represents, and the health and luxury it affords.

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FIG. 1.-Diversification of crops-cabbage, sweet corn, orchard, etc.-insures more employment throughout the seasons and averts the possible total loss sometimes occurring if a onecrop system is followed.

In France the need of garden products for our wounded soldiers, and the therapeutic value which the physical exercise in gardening proved to those wounded who were well enough to engage in it, brought about the establishment of Red Cross truck gardens in the vicinity of hospitals. The benefit was so marked that the work was described as "putting nature on the medical staff." The psychological effect in providing an interest and thus taking the man's mind off his physical condition was also an important factor, and immediately improved the morale of the hospitals.

Another agricultural movement in France was opened in connection with the American Expeditionary Force University at the village of Beaune. Eight thousand students were enrolled in this university. Class or lecture rooms were established throughout the Army, and 500 farmers' clubs were organized with a membership of fully 20,000 soldiers. In many units of the expeditionary forces there were post and divisional schools which maintained agricultural courses of 6 to 12 weeks, and gave instruction in several fundamental studies. These schools were held wherever a suitable place and equipment could be found.

The interest awakened in agriculture in the expeditionary forces is sure to have a marked effect in America. The boys who had experience in France have new ideas with regard to agriculture as a business or vocation. Intensive gardening is a branch of agriculture that will be especially affected. In America farms are usually so large that it was considered almost impossible to carry on any branch of agriculture as a business on a limited area. But the French farms are in most cases small and intensively cultivated, and they have shown the men in the American army that nearly every piece of land is adapted to the cultivation of some kind of product, or may be so adapted. The whole effect of the war has been to put agriculture in a new and clearer light, and demonstrate that a smaller acreage intensively handled in order to bring it to a high state of cultivation will produce greater profits while working over less area.

GARDENING OPPORTUNITIES.

The Federal Board, recognizing this new attitude toward agriculture, is offering disabled soldiers vocational courses in gardening, and those who convalesced in the French truck gardens and thereby discovered an unsuspected aptitude for gardening, have this opportunity to prepare themselves for a desirable and healthful, as well as remunerative, occupation. The fact that every State has an agricultural college and agricultural high schools makes it possible for boys who take such courses to do so nearer home perhaps than would be the case if they were studying some other vocation. This should be appreciated, since every section of the United States presents an opportunity for gardening of some sort and upon some scale, and if

not in close proximity to a city of marketing value, then the present splendid and wide spreading means of transportation make the larger operations of truck farming possible and lucrative.

The same healthful effects of garden work which brought the convalescent soldier to a sound physical condition will help to keep him always in that condition should he elect to make use of his gardening experience and enter upon gardening as his vocation.

Reading is not study, and theory is not practice, but reading is important to study, and theory necessary in order to derive the proper benefits from practice; in fact, the ideas secured from devoted study establish the theories upon which successful practice is based. The material in this monograph is offered to give information as to the importance of gardening and the scale on which it may be undertaken as an occupation. The discussions of more or less detail show the need of vocational training to insure a practical success. Old-time gardeners boasted of their secrets. There were some of whom it was said things grew wherever they placed their feet. There are no longer any secrets that can not be understood by those taking the training in scientific gardening offered in agricultural schools and colleges.

The success of the gardener will depend upon his management of his garden, his knowledge of gardening as a business; in short, upon his training. With a knowledge of certain principles pertaining to soil physics, drainage and irrigation, and the business of marketing, a man with ability and ambition can not fail to make a success. But the question arises: How can a business be started without capital? Assuming that the young man who wishes to go into gardening has no capital whatever, we may consider the possibility of his making an arrangement with a farmer who gives him land for his garden in return for a certain per cent of the profits or for some special help and technical knowledge which he can offer the farmer. As discussed later under farm gardening, there is usually some idle land on a farm which can be improved and made fit for farm gardening with the application of a little technical knowledge, for instance, by clearing, leveling, terracing, or by the introduction of irrigation or drainage. If the reclaimed land is not suited to gardening, a portion of the farm already in use by the farmer may be taken over for the garden tract, and the crop displaced may be cultivated in the reclaimed land. During the first year a new plot may be prepared for use the second year and the original garden plot returned to the farmer. Thus a system of land improvement could be worked out which would be of great benefit to the owner, who would undoubtedly be glad to avail himself of this opportunity by making satisfactory arrangements with the gardener. A plan for ultimate ownership of a certain tract could be evolved, or the monetary return from the garden crops could be saved and later invested in suitable land, if the farmer should not care to sell, or the man desire a different location.