Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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Nineteen-forty we know so well, and the Log Book reveals the fact that “for the outdoor lecture the men stayed by the stove, the ladies only having the courage to face the wind.’' On March 24th the first small greenhouse was completed and the students began their practical work in earnest. Paths were made, benches were scrubbed and the propagating beds were prepared, not without difficulty, however, for the Log Book notes that “Sam Smith, the garden boy, arrived on March 26th, and with the approbation of the entire School was at once put to convert frozen sods into compost.’ Upon another occasion butter making was attempted, apparently with somewhat dubious results, for the Log Book states that the butter refused to come until the entire school had churned in a body, and it goes on to add that the butter was very soft and very pale, but that the quality of the buttermilk was excellent. In the autumn of 1914 two new greenhouses were built and the following spring the building which is now known as the Academic Building was completed. For many years it served both as a class room building and as a dormitory, providing accomodations for twelve students. The School’s first Commencement was celebrated in the summer of 1915, diplomas being awarded to three graduates of the full two year course. During the autumn of this year Miss Elizabeth Leighton Lee became the Director of the School, and the progress made during the next ten years was due in large measure to the fine spirit and vision which she brought to her work. When America entered the World War the School of Horticulture became a place of tremendous activity. Special courses were given for the training of Land Army Leaders, extension courses were offered, a canning kitchen was established to aid in the conservation of the nation’s food supplies, and very real service was rendered. In the summer of 1928 ground was broken for the building of the new dormitory which was ready for occupancy early the following spring. The development of the gardens and grounds surrounding the dormitory has been a matter of great interest to all those connected with the School. The work has been done very gradually, over a period of several years, and the plans have not, as yet, been carried fully to completion. In the thirty years which have passed since the founding of the School of Horticulture students have come from every section of the country to take the training which it offers. Thirty-eight states and five foreign countries have been represented in our student body within the past two decades. It is an accepted fact that the real worth of any educational institution which offers training in a specialized field is proven by the work of its graduates. Those of us who were here as students in the early days used to wonder what opportunities there would be for us in this, our chosen field. We used to wonder what we would be doing five years hence, ten years hence,—I don't believe that we ever thought of looking ahead as 10

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Wise-Acres By Mrs. James Bush-Brown On an April afternoon, in the year 1910, Miss Jane B. Haines presented to a congress of women at Bryn Mawr her plans for the founding of the first School of Horticulture for Women in America, and 1 am going to quote briefly from the address delivered on that spring afternoon thirty years ago. “Believing thoroughly in the principle of horticultural training for women, and that the time for founding such an institution is now come, a number of people have associated themselves together with the purpose of opening, in the near future, a school for this practical training of women in gardening and kindred subjects. The purpose of the school is to offer to educated and earnest minded women, who have a love for country life and an aptitude for country pursuits, practical training in horticulture. The first students in the School will have much of the fun, for to them will be given an insight into the foundation of things—the laying out and planting of the gardens and grounds, and the creating of custom and precedent so dear to all schools and colleges. “One principle above all others we will keep before us and would particularly enforce,—the trained hand with the trained mind, which means mastery and success.” During the months preceding the delivery of this address at Bryn Mawr a survey had been made of the European Colleges of Gardening which have long held such a recognized place in the educational world, and it was decided to establish this new school in America along similar lines. A farm was purchased near what was then the little country town of Ambler, and the first entry in the Log Book which was kept during those early days is dated September 21, 1910, “Work was begun on the alterations and repairs of the house.” The work on the old farm house continued throughout the winter months and on February 10th, 1911, the School of Horticulture for Women officially opened its doors with Miss Mary Collins as principal, Miss Varley as instructor, and four students. Some of the entries in the Log Book during the first year of the School’s existence are both interesting and amusing. Early in March, several weeks after the opening of the School, a demonstration of pruning and spraying was given, to which the public was invited. The weather was very unfavorable, one of those bitterly cold and windy March days which 9

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Wise-Acres far as thirty years. In those days the School had never had any graduates. We had nothing upon which to base our hopes and aspirations except our love for the work. We were going out as pioneers into a new field. And in the years which have passed since then it has been of great interest to note the widely varied opportunities which have opened to women, trained in this field. Today there are more than two hundred graduates who are actively engaged in horticultural work, and many have become recognized as authorities in their respective fields. At the close of this third decade the School of Horticulture stands as a living memorial to the faith of its founders, and it is the privilege of those who are associated with it, today, to cherish the traditions of the past, and to pass on to the students of the future a spirit which is fine and true. The papers say that Kansas corn And Boston beans had rain; The beets are up another inch In fields near Bangor, Maine; In Tallahassee, Florida, The citrus crop grows thick, But in New York, my radishes Look nearer dead than sick. I understand potato bugs Have luscious meals in Quogue, And Pittsburgh carrots push right through, Oblivious to fog. While out near Minneapolis The wheat just grows and grows, But in New York, my radishes Lie lolling in their rows. The walnut groves in Oregon, The Denver sugar beets, The peanuts in the Carolines Are not considered feats; Oh, why am I the only one, The thought in me has grown, Whose Knickerbocker radishes Are better never sown? 11 Lillian Luben ’41