Gardening

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Moving Image:Gardening
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Gardening is a short film from 1940 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.

Appraisal. Excellent for telling a simple story of the work of two children in raising a garden. Should be useful in stimulating interest in gardening.

The variety of details and activities makes this film particularly interesting to children. It should not be considered a technical presentation on the techniques of gardening. It is simple and effective, although some of the conversation is stilted. Photography and sound are excellent.

Contents. How two children planned, planted, cultivated, and harvested a small garden. Betsey and Bill Allen are looking at the seed catalogue. When their father arrives, they tell him of their plans for a garden. A site is selected and a diagram made of the proposed garden. Bill and Betsey submit their garden plan to their father who approves it. In the spring Mr. Allen and Bill do the spading. On a trip to the seed store many different types of seed and a good fertilizer are selected. The fertilizer is raked into the soil. The seed rows are laid out in straight lines by the use of a string marker. A shallow furrow is made for radish seeds. Bill plants the seeds and Betsey covers them. A few weeks after the radishes have been planted, potatoes are cut for planting. Bill pulls the weeds and waters his growing garden. When the first radishes are large enough to use, Bill pulls them and proudly takes them to his mother. Beans have begun to twine about the poles provided for them. Beetles have appeared on the potato plants, so they must be sprayed. In July Bill and Betsey harvest a fine crop of carrots. The lower branches are pruned off the tomato plants so that the tomatoes will grow larger. A tomato worm appears but Bill destroys it before damage is done. The pumpkin vines are growing rapidly and the corn is in blossom.

In early August the garden gets a much needed rain. Bill looks at the calendar to calculate the number of days before he will harvest the corn, potatoes, and onions. He also works on the garden ledger. Finally the pumpkins, potatoes, and corn are harvested. The Allens gather in their back yard for a harvest feast cooked at their out-of-door fireplace. Mr. Allen says, "Now, you understand why the Pilgrims had a Thanksgiving feast after their first harvest. " Bill replies, "When you have raised corn like this, it's worth celebrating."

1930s sound film with very awkward voice-over dubbing and very awkwardly scripted dialogue giving film very unnatural comedic effect.

13:50:44:02 VS two siblings, boy and girl about 12, lying on their stomachs in front of the fireplace looking at a magazine together; CU disembodied hand flips through seed catalogue, images of various vegetables; father comes home and kids tell him they want to grow vegetables, father says I like some pumpkin pie.

13:51:54:08 CU disembodied man s hand crumbles soil; man shoes boy and girl how to spade the soil with a pitchfork; boy spades soil while girls rakes the soil for garden outside of their house.

13:52:41:10 Young boy and girl about 12 walk up sidewalk to gardening store with sign hanging out front for duPont Paints; children buy seeds and gardening supplies; VS boy planting seed while girl rakes.

13:54:20:05 CU disembodied boy s hand hold package of radish seeds, package is opened and boy pours seeds into one hand; CU boy planting radish seeds.

13:56:37:11 VS CU potato beetles eating leaves of potato plants; boy wearing overalls sprays pesticide on plants.

13:57:32:23 CU VS tomato worms.

13:57:53:11 Low-angle corn stalks.

13:58:18:14 Boy sitting at kitchen table watches rain pour down over kitchen window; CU girl with braids and bows in her hair counts days on calendar for month of August, pressing index finger against days 4 through 10; CU disembodied hand holding fountain pen writes in cursive in account book; VS boy and girl harvesting their garden, boy digs up potatoes, girls puts potatoes in a basket; boy picks corn

14:00:29:01 CU woman takes bite of corner cob, corn stalks in background; CU man takes bites of corn, jack-o-lantern and corn stalks in background; MS girl eating corn; LS family eating corn; CU boy takes bite of corn and smiles.

Gardening
Produced byERPI Classroom Films, Inc.
Production
companies
ERPI Classroom Films, Inc.
Distributed byERPI Classroom Films, Inc.
Release date
1940
Running time
1 reel
LanguageEnglish
Thumbnail
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