CHAPTER XVCONTINENTAL SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

I am told upon good authority that although up to the present moment no schools of horticulture have been founded for ladies, the Government is contemplating the institution of one. In 1907 six young ladies joined the classes of the Government School of Horticulture at Ghent. At the Vilvorde Government School of Horticulture three young women (foreigners) followed the school training, and one of them received a diploma. Quite recently a horticultural section has been opened in the Pensionnat dâ€™HiverlÃ©, and three young ladies have joined it. Belgium possesses manyÃ©coles mÃ©nagÃ¨res agricolesfor women, but these are more for agricultural or farming supervision.

At the Horticultural Congress held in 1907 at St. Crond (in the province of Lunbourg), M. de Vuyst read an interesting paper in favour of gardening instruction for ladies.

Mademoiselle Rossignon in her admirable privateschool for girls at 86, Rue Gachard, Avenue Louise, Brussels, has organised classes where gardening is taught. Here, each girl has the management of a plot of ground, and elementary landscape gardening from simple designs is shown. Besides being taught the use to which land can be put for the cultivation of vegetables, fruit and flowers, students can learn preserving and cooking fruits and vegetables.

I have received the following report from the National Council of Women of Denmark, Copenhagen. There are in Denmark no horticultural colleges for women only. But the colleges and schools admit women, and usually on the same conditions as men.

(The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural College),

(Public State Institution), has also a division for horticulture. The training is chiefly theoretical, and does not include practical gardening, which must be learned elsewhere. The course lasts for two years (of two terms each), and leads up to a state examination; the candidate who successfully passes this has the title of â€œhavebrugskandidat.â€

Certain entrance qualifications are required. The entrance fee is 10 kr.,[4]the fee per term (two terms a year), about 50 kr.; the examination fees, Part I., 15 kr.; Part II., 25 kr. Scholarships may be obtained. The collegeis not residential, and the students are not subject to any rules out of school hours. Women are admitted on exactly the same terms as men, but very few have hitherto graduatedâ€”only one before 1894, and six after that time.

[4]One krone = 1s. 1Â½d.

The instruction is partly oral, partly in writing, partly work in the laboratories. Botanical excursions are held nearly every week in the spring and autumn. Practical training in surveying and levelling is given in July of the first yearâ€™s course.

Part I.(after the first yearâ€™s course)

Physics and meteorology, oral; chemistry, oral, practical and written; knowledge of soils, oral; botany, oral; surveying and levelling, practical drawing.

Part II.(after the second yearâ€™s course)

(No one is admitted to Part II. who has not passed satisfactorily in Part I.)

General horticulture, oral and written; cultivation of vegetables, oral and written; orchard and nursery gardening, oral and written; laying out of gardens, etc., oral and written; forcing of useful plants, oral; horticultural botany, oral; pathology of plants, oral; horticultural zoology, oral; agricultural chemistry, practical and written; composing of garden plans.

This is a residential school for gardeners, both men and women. A full course is of two or two-and-a-half years, comprising both practical and theoretical training. The preferable age for students is from eighteen to twenty. To be admitted the student must have been occupied with gardening for two years. If there is room students without this qualification may be admitted, but these must stay three years at the school.

In the summer theory is studied from 6 till 10 a.m., practical work, 10.30 a.m. till 5.30 p.m.; in the winter, theory is from 2 till 6 p.m., practical work, 7.30 a.m. till 1 p.m.

The examinations are controlled by the Education Department. They are both theoretical and practical.

Eight women have been trained during the three years since this examination was instituted. The school itself is more than twenty-five years old.

The fees for board, lodging, and instruction are on an average 35 kroner per month for the first year, and 32 kroner per month for the second year.

Both men and women pupils are received, for a two yearsâ€™ course. The training is chiefly practical. Theoretical instruction is given during winter in two lessons of two hours each a week in the mornings, and three lessons of two hour each in the afternoons. In summer there aresome lessons in botany. During their training men get 10 kr. a month the first year, 24 kr. the second. Women get nothing the first year, 10 kr. a month the second, but then they have not exactly the same work.

A practical examination can be entered for after five yearsâ€™ practical gardening: sometimes old students come back after some years to go in for this examination. Not many women have been trained at Rosenborg, and only one has had an appointment thereâ€”for a short time after her training.

Several estates and market gardens take women as pupils, but the training is only practical. Very few women earn an independent living as gardeners; market gardening is usually considered rather hard work for women, and, besides, requires capital, and no woman has hitherto obtained a superior situation in any of the larger gardens, public or private. When they obtain a post they are usually paid less than the men for the same work.

Upon the whole, gardening in Denmark does not seem at present to be a very recommendable career for women who have to earn their living by it. On the other hand, many women now study it for use in their own homes. Thus there are State-aided courses for cottagersâ€™ wives and daughters both at Kjarhave and at a few other schools. Teachers go through a course of gardening in order to be able to teach in the school gardens.

I am permitted to publish the following extracts, and they have been kindly put into Englishfor me by a friend. They give an interesting description of the commencement of a school which is now one of the most famous in Germany. I am told, upon good authority, that posts for lady gardeners are easily obtained; in fact, that the demand is greater than the supply. The salaries vary from 400 marks to 2,000 marks and free living. The posts are chiefly in private gardens, sanatoria, and house-keeping schools.

ByMarie C. Vorwerk

In 1877 a German lady-student was living in the American seaport of Baltimore. She loved in her leisure hours to seek the harbour and watch the ships come and go. One day in autumn she saw with astonishment, from a train of perhaps fifteen to twenty coaches, an immense quantity of small square boxes unloaded and brought to a ship. On inquiry as to their contents, where they came from, and whither bound, she was told they were apples from California, destined for Germany, and that this fruit was sent every year in increasing numbers to Germany and other European countries.

STUDENTS AT THE SCHOOL OF POMOLOGY AND HORTICULTURE MARIENFELDE, NEAR BERLIN.

Why should Germany import foreign fruit? Has she not in all her provinces tracts of land with conditions and climate suitable for fruit and vegetable growing, and why should not German women earn a livelihood by horticulture? From these questions, which the studentasked herself in the harbour of Baltimore, has arisen the Horticultural School of Marienfelde. In the meantime the lady was naturally inclined to continue her chosen career of dentistry, to finish her studies, and begin to earn her living. But the idea would not rest! Whoever comes to Marienfelde to-day and sees there the stately building in its large garden, or has met a lady-gardener, trained at Marienfelde, in her thoroughly satisfying calling, must acknowledge what splendid results have sprung from this idea of the German student in the distant American commercial town.

A bee-hive with the inscription, â€œNo reward without diligence,â€ is carved over one of the entrance-doors of the school a suitable escutcheon as warning and incentive to the entering students, and not less as a reminder of the origin of the school and the busy life of its foundress.

Elvira Castner was a chemistâ€™s daughter, born in 1844 in a small town of western Prussia, and was a very lively, clever child. That she might not have to go from home for her education, her parents sent her to a boysâ€™ school, kept by a very scholarly pastor; there she eagerly studied every subject up till then reserved for boys. After two years at a seminary in Posen, she passed her teacherâ€™s examination. She liked her calling as teacher, but owing to throat trouble had to give up this profession. She went to Berlin for five years, and her health being re-established, her long-restrained love for medicine woke to new life. Liberal Berlin granted her what had been unattainable in the provinces.

She returned from Baltimore in 1878, with her degree as dental-surgeon, set up as a dentist in Berlin, and soon gained an extensive practice. Her mother and sisters came to reside with her, and one of her sisters, after taking her dental degree in America, became her assistant. Having attained her object, there came a time of comparative rest, in which the idea of German Horticulture stepped again into the foreground. Leisure hours were utilised for botanical study, holiday tours to visit various horticultural schools, pomological institutions and model-gardens in Reutlingen, Stuttgart, Switzerland, etc.

In the year 1889 an opportunity occurred to purchase in the neighbourhood of Berlin a small piece of ground where her acquired theoretical knowledge might be put into practice. Dr. Elvira Castner, with her family, occupied part of the double house built on the ground, while the remainder was let. A market garden was laid outâ€”the rougher work being done by the porterâ€™s wife. The sisters took charge of the remainder, aided by the counsel of their mother, an experienced farmer.

The first practical trial of a School of Horticulture for women was made at this time by the wife of the Counsellor of Commerce for Charlottenburg. Dr. Elvira Castner thought herself fortunate to see her idea so soon realised, and gave the school her warmest interest. As vice-president of the Berlin society for the benefit of women, she had opportunity to know it well. The society protected the school, and appointed a commission for the promotion of pomology and horticulture, of which Miss Castner was chairman. Accompanied by this committee she visited theCharlottenburger school, and came back quite disillusioned. That school of horticulture was not to her mind; the tending of flowers was undertaken, but without any solid instruction, and fruit and vegetable cultivation were never mentioned.

At the first sitting of the commission, she gave her ideas on the subject of a School for Horticulture, and was requested to embody them in a report, so as to reach a larger public. In complying with this desire she answered clearly and convincingly the three questions:

1. Should more be done in our Fatherland for pomology and horticulture?2. Is it possible for women to follow a gardenerâ€™s calling, and to earn a living by it?3. How would an educated woman, after sufficient training, find opportunity to practise this calling?

1. Should more be done in our Fatherland for pomology and horticulture?

2. Is it possible for women to follow a gardenerâ€™s calling, and to earn a living by it?

3. How would an educated woman, after sufficient training, find opportunity to practise this calling?

The report was published in several papers, and Dr. Castner received letters from all parts, asking where the school of horticulture was to be found, carried out on these principles. A determined little lady, Frau Rackau, from Jena, came to Berlin to present herself at this school. It seemed the propitious moment to start the school; friends thronged round, circumstances were favourable. An attempt by the formation of a company to interest a larger public failed miserably, and courageous Dr. Castner, inspired by the need of giving to German women the new calling of practical gardening, opened on the 1st October, 1894, the first German female School of Horticulture, with seven scholars. The other part of the Friedenauer house happened to be free; it was turnedinto living-and classrooms for the future scholars. The necessary tools were obtained, and so the work began, though differently from Miss Castnerâ€™s first intentions. As it had not been possible to rouse the active interest of educated German women, particularly those living in the country, the school could not be limited to their own country-women, as had been the original plan. Our statistical tables plainly show how largely foreigners are in the majority.

The difficulties of the beginning were successfully overcome; the garden, now three acres, attracted students in growing numbers. In April, 1895, ten new scholars joined the original seven, and in the next year seventeen were added. From that time a regular increase went on.

Yet many hindrances remained. If women were indifferent, gardeners showed the liveliest, though not friendly, interest in the scheme, and it took years to convince them they would not be harmed by the new ideas.

Prominent men like Professors Wittenack, Herren, Ascherson, Sorauer, Garden-Inspector Lindemint, and others, whose judgment carried great weight, were most sceptical. They feared, not without cause, that the training for women, as was too common, would be imperfect. Some examinations, at which they were present on the invitation of Dr. Elvira Castner, convinced them of the thoroughness of our work, and with just pride we count them now amongst our truest friends.

The establishment soon won general respect. House and garden at Friedenau became too small, and a move was made in October, 1899, to Marienfelde, where thegarden of ten acres and the large house promised to be sufficient for years to come. Miss Castner gave up her dental practice and devoted herself entirely to the school. The interest of German women was at last awakened, and what was impossible ten years previously was now imitated in Godesberg and other places. Schools of horticulture, on the Marienfelde model, were started.

Next comes the question of the training and the after career of the students. The prospectus and plan of studies of the institution abundantly answer the first question. I believe I can rightly say one seldom finds such an excellent organisation, with so harmonious an intermingling of theory and practice. The gardenerâ€™s calling is thoroughly practical, but theoretical instruction cannot be left in the background. In our school only the afternoon hours belong to scientific exposition, the whole morning is devoted to practical work. This is more necessary, as most ladies come to us without the slightest preliminary knowledge, and an obligatory previous apprenticeship was part of our ideal scheme. It is no slight task for a head-gardener to overlook and occupy in the garden fifty to sixty ladies, many without former training. A suitable organisation, formed in the course of years, considerably lightens this task, and the number of students in the gardens might be doubled without causing Herr Cornelius (our present head-gardener) much more trouble. Each lady learns to begin and finish her task without help; second year students are allowed partly to arrange their own work for each season, and are responsible for their management of it.

The ten-acre garden is not sufficient to employ the many students, although all the work is done by the ladies; more ground has been added, and, in addition, each class undertakes to keep in order one or two private gardens in the colony.

What becomes of all the students after training? Do they find really satisfactory posts? Up till now the situations offered cannot be filled, there not being sufficient candidates. The great varieties in the exercise of this calling, which in my opinion are not nearly exhausted, promise to all women, giving themselves to it, a suitable and pleasant occupation.

All nerve and lung sanatoria, as well as Nature Cure establishments, on whose patients garden work exercises such a beneficial effect, all house-keeping schools, kindergarten, benevolent institutions and orphanages will, it is to be hoped, in a few years, consider the appointment of a trained lady gardener a matter of course. Then come posts in private gardens, in town or country, nursery gardens, soon it is to be hoped school gardens, and all new schools of horticulture.

A glance at our statistics shows that proportionately few scholars of the two yearsâ€™ course undergo the examination, and later take situations. This is explained by the different scholars who come here, and who may be divided into three classes:â€”

1. Those who actually prepare for a profession.

2. So-called â€œhospitantinnen,â€ mostly ailing ladies, ordered by a doctor work in the open air.

3. Young girls between sixteen and eighteen years ofage, who in healthy open-air work seek relaxation after school time, and a substitute for the usual year in a boarding-school. This state of affairs is not likely to last much longer. New institutions will branch off; some, perhaps, only for delicate women, others reserved for young girls.

The school was from October 1, 1894, to April 1, 1904, attended by

Till April 1, 1904, course completed by 77 scholars. Of those

There remain in the school 37 scholars + 13 = 50 + 9 special students.

For five years our horticultural school has given a course for teachers, which is held in two divisions of fourteen days, one in spring, the other in August. A quite special programme is sketched out for it, and everything necessary for regulating a school garden is taught to teachers in the shortest possible way. Teachers must carry out all the tasks given, by themselves. Twenty-five teachers have taken advantage of this course, four of these from KÃ¶nigsberg, in East Prussia.

THE FOLLOWING EXTRACTS FROM THE PROSPECTUS OF THE MARIENFELDE SCHOOL SHOW ITS PRESENT DEVELOPMENT

(Formerly Friedenau, near Berlin)

The intention of the School of Pomology and Horticulture is, by theoretical instruction and practical work,to fit women and girls of good education to take posts as professional gardeners, or to turn their acquired knowledge into money by the cultivation of their own ground. Above all, they learn that intelligent cultivation of the soil brings better crops and produce, and with better sale a higher value to the ground, and that all the necessary work can be carried on with success by women. Those scholars who wish to qualify as gardeners must go through a two yearsâ€™ course. At the expiry of this an examination is held, which confers a leaving certificate on the successful candidates. Those who have not attended the course regularly or have not accomplished the desired quantity of practical or theoretical work, or who do not wish to undergo the examination, as well as those who, after a one yearâ€™s course, leave the institution, receive, if they wish it, a certificate of attendance at the school.

The course is for two years, and pupils are admitted at the beginning of April and October of each year. The theoretical instruction embraces these branches:â€”

1.Pomology.â€”Planting, cultivation, care of fruit-trees and berry bushes, improvement, pruning, knowledge of species, preservation and sale of fruit, forcing under glass, pot fruit culture.

2.Viticulture.â€”Planting and training of the vine.

3.Cultivation of vegetableson waste land, sale and preserving, hot-beds.

4.Flower culture.â€”Special attention given to the rose (propagation and improvement).

5.Arboriculture.â€”Cultivation, increase and description of the chief kinds of woods with information of their decorative value for landscape gardening.

6.Landscape gardening and design.â€”Sketches and plans of gardens and pleasure-grounds.

7.Land surveying and levelling.

8.Lessons in soils and manures.

9.Botany, anatomy, physiology.â€”Systems, morphology and geography of plants, diseases of plants.

10.Chemistry.â€”The most important constituents of organic and inorganic chemistry, and the most important minerals for plants.

11.Zoology.â€”Animals hurtful or beneficial to pomology and horticulture.

12.Geometry.

13.Binding, tying.

14.Bee-rearing.:

15. The most important and practical legal knowledge.

16.Book-keepingand correspondence.

17.Instructionin management.

The practical work is carried on under the guidance and supervision of a head-gardener, which work must be done unconditionally according to the arrangement of the head or his substitute: Work begins in summer at seven oâ€™clock, in winter at eight.

The plan of work, containing all details, is settled at the beginning of every session. Holidays of three weeks at Christmas, and of fourteen days in summer. The students must leave the institution during the Christmas holidays, owing to the necessary yearly repairs. Permissionto remain is only given in urgent cases. Irregular attendance at the institution is a cause of dismissal before the end of the course. The course ends with the examination.

Bee-rearing is practically undertaken. Those ladies interested in poultry-breeding get the opportunity to acquire the rudiments of this knowledge.

Necessary conditions of admission are a healthy body fit for the work, and education in the first class of a secondary girlsâ€™ school. To this must be added a short account of oneâ€™s life. Minors must have the written consent of their father, whose agreement to bear all the expenses of attending the school must be given.

For practical work a special dress is prescribed: reform-dress of coarse woollen stuff (linen in summer) and an apron. In the wet season of the year wooden shoes must be worn. Students provide at their own cost: garden knife, grafting and fertilising knife, stock shears, tree saws and pocket scissors. Instruments and the suitable clothing can be purchased after entry into the institution, as there is no variation in the dress (stuff, colour, and cut). Those scholars received as boarders must bring with them mattress and feather-bed (bedsteads with spiral spring-mattresses are provided) as well as bed-linen, towels, serviettes, spoons, knives and forks. Bedsteads and other large pieces of furniture may not be brought or procured.

Scholars are not accepted under sixteen years.

1. For those who, on account of ill-health, want to occupy themselves for a time in the open air. These have only practical work, and do not take part in the theoretical instruction. Admission from April to October, or for a longer or shorter time.

2. Those who wish to take theoretical instruction along with the other. Admission April and October.

1. Course for teachers of fourteen daysâ€™ duration in spring, and the same in autumn.

2. Course for owners of gardens (February-March), lasting four weeks. Care of fruit-trees and pruning.

Scholars (CourseA) whose parents do not reside in the near neighbourhood of Marienfelde must live in the institution, so far as there is room. If all places are filled, other boarding-houses will be recommended. Board in the school (without laundry) amounts to Â£4 per month, instruction 25s., and are both paid quarterly, the first term beforehand.

The cost of board in other pensions is from Â£4 10s. to Â£5 per month, according to size of room.

Monthly fee for CourseA(first quarter in advance), Â£1 5s.; monthly fee for CourseB1 (one month payable in advance), Â£1 15s. monthly fee for CourseB2 (a quarter payable in advance), Â£1 15s.; monthly fee for CourseC1 (each division in advance), 10s.; monthly fee for CourseC2 (payable in advance), Â£2.

Scholars who wish to leave the institution before the end of the course must give three monthsâ€™ notice; this can only be done in January and June.

Should a pupil leave for any cause whatever in the middle of a quarter no reduction is made, and board and fees must be paid for thenextterm.

For the six winter months (October to April) 3s. per month for heating, and each session 3s. for use of garden utensils, are levied from each scholar.

It is expected and supposed that each scholar will conduct herself as a lady, in and out of the institution. Unladylike behaviour, as well as contravention of the rules of the house, necessary to the maintenance of discipline, may be punished by dismissal from the school.

Principal and Owner:Elvira Castner.

Dr. D. S.

Conducted byMartha Breymann

The object of the two-yearsâ€™ course is to give the most comprehensive instruction in horticulture, so as to afford ladies the opportunity of fitting themselves for an independent career in husbandry; or by a one yearâ€™s course to be able to occupy their time usefully and happily in cultivating their own ground. Besides the correct working of the ground, the aim is to teach the pupils to know for themselves the most necessary work and itsproper execution, and to turn them out practical gardeners and capable, observant characters.

The forenoon, till the pause for breakfast, is kept exclusively for practical work, which daily amounts to five or six hours. The field of activity is the nine-acre garden of the â€œBreymann Educational Institute for Young Girls,â€ with pleasure-grounds, greenhouses, forcing-beds, vegetable-fields, nursery, etc. The opportunity to learn bee-culture is also given.

The theoretical instruction serves to explain and so to support the practical work. It comprises:

1.Botany.â€”Plant life.

2.Elementary chemistry, for the better understanding of the transformations of matter, instruction in manures, analysis of soils.

3.Fruit and vegetable culture.

4.Flower growing.

5.Arboriculture.

6.Forcing.

7.Zoology(the foes of plants and their destruction).

8.Garden design.

Theoretical instruction is given every afternoon from one to two hours. Thursday afternoons are at the studentsâ€™ disposal. Holidays are in winter from the 15th of December till the 15th of January. During this time the institution is closed. As an exception, if specially desired, leave is granted for a fortnight at whichever date suits best, viz., 1st to 15th April, July, or October; in those weeks theoretical instruction is not given.

Stipulations.â€”1, Good education; 2, excellent health;3, obedience to the regulations of the house. Order and punctuality are expected. Notice must be given of absence from a meal, or after ten oâ€™clock at night. There are three principal meals, and early and afternoon coffee. The food is simple, but carefully prepared.

The fees amount to 250 marks per quarter, to be paid quarterly in advance. The institution can only be left after a quarterâ€™s notice. For heating and lighting the bedroom (if desired) an extra charge is made. Exceptional use, such as a fire the whole day, or light after ten p.m., is naturally more. A heated general room for study is at every oneâ€™s disposal. On leaving and at Christmas 3s. for attendance is added to the account.

Each student must bring: Feather-bed (not bedstead or mattress), bed-cover, sheets, towels, serviettes, and table-cover. An exception is made for foreigners, to whom these articles are lent for a fee. Any further information will be readily given. Letters of recommendation can be shown.

Station:Leutesdorf

Pier:Andernach(with ferry connection to Leutesdorf)

Course for Educated Women in Horticulture and Forcing

Marienburg lies close to the Rhine, in Leutesdorf. The larger agricultural property, with ornamental park,fruit and vegetable garden, greenhouses, hot-beds belonging to Neuwied, a neighbouring country residence, serve as the practical field of work for the school. All the labour needed is done by the students. The school is in two buildings, with single-and double-bedded rooms for the reception of twenty ladies. Hot and cold water is laid on, with bath-rooms and central heating. Comfortably furnished sitting-rooms give the opportunity for social intercourse during off-time. This school gives educated girls and women the chance to acquire the requisite practice and knowledge to work a garden correctly and independently.

Practical and theoretical instruction are both given, but thegreater valueis placed on thoroughly comprehensivepractical knowledge.

For those ladies who wish to fit themselves for a gardenerâ€™s calling, and later take posts as gardeners on estates, in villa gardens, sanatoria, house-keeping schools, educational institutions, etc. (2,000 have taken situations with salary, six without).

Pomology: Hybridisation, care, forcing, sale. Vegetable culture: Open-air and forcing, sale. Floriculture: Hardy and hot-house flowers, balcony and room decoration, arranging, making wreaths. Commercial gardening: Sale and despatch, with practical book-keeping. Landscape gardening: Designing, laying out and care of gardens. Basket weaving, joinery, glazing.

Pomology: Breeding, pruning, forcing, knowledge of species. Vegetable culture and forcing. Flower propagation and hot-houses, forcing. Forestry: Description and crossing of the most important trees for landscape gardening. Landscape gardening. Legal knowledge. Book-keeping and correspondence. Botany: Morphology, anatomy, physiology, systems, geography of plants, plant diseases. Zoology: Animals useful and hurtful to horticulture. Chemistry: Soils and manures. Geometry and surveying.

Theoretical instruction is given by a head-gardener, a highly-educated scientific master, and by the principal herself. The head-gardener instructs in the practical department with the help of a basket-maker and joiner for those branches. Admission to the course is in the beginning of April and October.

As a means of judging the proficiency of our scholars a small exhibition of garden products, and sketches and designs of gardens, is held yearly in the institution, about the end of September or beginning of October. An inspection of the exhibition, and also of the garden, is willingly permitted to anyone interested.

At the close of the second year the scholars receive a certificate after examination.

Scholars must have passed through the first class in a secondary girlsâ€™ school, and have a healthy, robust constitution. Age not over thirty. A medical certificateand a short autobiography must be added to the report.

A special dress is required for practical work. This, as well as garden shears and saws, is provided at the studentâ€™s cost; all other implements belong to the school, and are used without payment. From 1st to 15th every quarter there is no theoretical instruction. Extra leave, if wanted, should be asked for then. Classes are stopped for four weeks at Christmas, and scholars can only remain in the institution at this time by special permission.

For board and lodging, exclusive of heating and laundry, in double-bedded room, Â£4 10s.; single-bedded room, Â£5 monthly. For instruction Â£1 monthly is charged. Fees are to be paid quarterly in advance (from Â£16 10s. to Â£18.) In the two winter quarters 15s. extra for heating are charged. Arrears are not allowed. Anyone wishing to leave before the end of the course must give three monthsâ€™ notice, or pay a quarterâ€™s fees; such notice will only be received at the beginning of each quarter.

The following articles are to be brought:â€”Table silver and cutlery, fruit-knife, serviette-ring (all plainly marked), serviettes, towels, pillows, sheets, and soiled linen-bag. Bedstead and mattress are supplied.

For those ladies who wish to work their own gardens, and for young girls who, after the strain of school life, seek re-invigoration in healthy, refreshing activity for body and mind. These receive the same instruction as for the first year of the regular course, but no certificate.In other respects the conditions of the full course hold good. Ladies who already have elementary knowledge, and only wish to take the second yearâ€™s course, must undergo a preliminary examination.

Can enter for a shorter time, to try if the calling of gardener suits them, so that later they can take a course of one or two years. This class, as well as those who want to improve their health by occupation in the open air, only take part in practical instruction. They will find near the Leutesdorf school a good boarding-house, where the charge is 30s. monthly. Entry on the 1st or 15th of every month.

Scholars under eighteen years of age are in the special charge of the principal, and without her permission may not leave the institution. Practical instruction is divided into four hours in the morning and two in the afternoon. Theoretical instruction is given from one to two hours daily in the afternoon. Scholars are free on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. From time to time excursions with the students are undertaken to inspect the surrounding country, gardens and pleasure-grounds, and nurseries.

Punctuality and order are required of every student. The rules of the school and house must be rigidly observed.

Marie C. Vorwerk, Elsbeth von Zibzewik(Owners and Principals)

Rules for the House

1. Scholars must appear punctually at meals; exceptions are to be notified to the housekeeper. In caseof illness only will meals be served in the bedroom. Dress must be changed for dinner and supper.

2. Before first breakfast scholars must put away anything lying about their rooms, make beds, and open the windows.

3. Paper, flowers, hair, or other insoluble articles may not be put in the basin.

4. The scholars must clean clothes and shoes, except their working boots.

5. Servants and assistants are not to be asked for any extra service tips and presents are forbidden; at Christmas and on leaving every scholar puts something into a money-box for the servants.

6. Rooms and passages may not be entered with garden boots.

7. Boxes and soiled linen are to be kept on the ground floor.

8. After dinner till 2 oâ€™clock and after 10 p.m. perfect quiet must prevail. Lamps in the school-and business-rooms, as well as in the corridor, are put out at 10 p.m.

9. Nails may not be knocked in the walls of the rooms without permission; it is also forbidden to fasten articles on the walls with ordinary or drawing-pins.

10. Any damage to the house or furniture must be pointed out at once to the principals, and made good.

11. All complaints are to be made to the principals.

School Regulations

1. The scholars must attend theoretical and practical instruction regularly; leave of absence only from theprincipals. Whoever misses more than six weeksâ€™ instruction in one session cannot be admitted to the examination.

2. Practical work occupies six hours, theoretical from one to two hours daily. Work begins in summer at 7 oâ€™clock, in winter at 8 oâ€™clock in the morning. Saturday afternoon and Sunday are holidays.

3. Scholars whose week it is to be in management, or at work in the hot-houses, must remain in the establishment, even in their free time, and look after their departments.

4. Only half of the scholars at most can get leave in the first fortnight of a quarter. Permission should therefore be sought in good time. Those employed in the hot-houses or as overseers can obtain leave in case of urgency only, and must put in a substitute during their absence.

5. Permission for a weekâ€™s leave is to be obtained at latest eight days in advance, for one or several days the day before. Only urgent cases permit an exception.

To be provided:â€”1 reform winter dress with bloomers; 2 reform summer dresses with 2 bloomers; 2 blue linen aprons; 1 cap, and 2 linen hats; 1 pair strong boots and gaiters; some books, drawing materials, grafting-saw, tree-shears, garden-knife, grafting and fertilising knives, yard-stick, materials for basket-making.

Anyone maliciously violating the regulations of the house or school is dismissed.

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