Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1699 Birth of John Bartram, American botanist, and explorer.  John founded the first botanical garden in America, and Linnaeus called him the "greatest natural botanist in the world."  Like many botanists of his time, John was born to a farming Quaker family in Pennsylvania. He never forgot his rural roots, and he always thought of himself as a farmer first. When asked to describe how he ended up in botany, he wrote,  One day, I was very busy [plowing]… and being weary I ran under a tree to repose myself.  I cast my eyes on a daisy; I plucked it mechanically and viewed it with more curiosity than common country farmers are wont to do, and observed ... many distinct parts, some perpendicular, some horizontal.  ...I thought about it continually, at supper, in bed, and wherever I went.... On the fourth day I hired a man to plow for me and went to Philadelphia. [I bought] a Latin grammar [and] ...applied to a neighboring schoolmaster, who in three months taught me Latin enough to understand Linnaeus... Then I began to botanize all over my farm.   1907 On this day, a school garden for boys only was started at a school in Rhode Island. A summary report was published with the State Board of Education. Here's what the report said,  On March 26th, all the boys wrote for catalogs, some sending several letters or cards.  It proved a valuable letter lesson in letter-writing and geography as they looked at the places they had sent the letters and inquired about distances, railroads, and mail trains.  More than fifty attractive catalogs were received. Tomatoes, lettuce, and radishes were planted in boxes ready for early transplanting. The seeds were obtained through a member of Congress, and despite all the rumors regarding the poor quality of government seed, [they] proved excellent. Two boys found an old sink in a dump. This was sunk in the middle of the West yard, partly filled with cement and now used as a birdbath. Each boy chose several vegetables from a list of corn, squash, onions, carrots, beans, beets, lettuce, radishes, pumpkins, potatoes, peas, and parsnips. The corn and a row of sunflowers were planted next to the fence; the other vegetables [were planted] according to height, living lettuce, and radishes in the front. Difficulties: There have been many difficulties in the way. Most of the work has been done outside of school hours, at noon when some of the boys have to hurry home or at night when they carry papers. Most discouraging of all, vegetables have been stolen and Gardens trampton almost nightly. Effect: But the effect of the garden work on the boys has been excellent.  First of all it's giving them an outside interest. They have learned courtesy and generosity and showing visitors the garden and giving away their vegetables. Toads which we have raised from eggs are to be put in the garden when school closes.  There has been less time for running about the streets and cigarette smoking. Since the gardens were started, there's only been one case of truancy and very little absence. Ten or fifteen minutes hard work during the school hours has often served to bring a cross, restless boy back to quiet and pleasant.  Of the 23 boys, 18 have made gardens at home and most of them are doing well. A copy of one boy’s notebook will give an idea of the garden from the boy's standpoint. March 25: Began to pick rocks. Got a backache. Wrote for catalogs. March 26: Laid out 23 beds - [each] 6 by 14 ft March 27: Planted radishes, lettuce, tomatoes in boxes. Miss Allen paid $0.25 for loam. May 1: Put down sink for Birds bath. May 3rd: Planted pumpkins, potatoes, beans, beets, lettuce, radishes. May 15, 16, 17: Cleaned up West yard. Got loam. Planted shrubs and trees.  Planted marigolds, candytuft and poppies, Boston Ivy, cornus, weigelia, lilac,