86 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



COMMUNITY PLANTING AND PARKS. 



MUS. HULST, OF GRAND RAPIDS. 



Tlie iiiihiriil boniiiy of tliis state has always been commented npon by 

 travelers and explorers and I often wonder if we, because we live among 

 these things, sometimes cease to notice the beauty before our very eyes. 

 That is commonly the case. It has been my pleasure to drive across 

 the state both north and south, and we have noticed in both natural and 

 cultivated ])laces spaces that are very beautiful. When the presidency 

 (»f the Michigan State Teachers' Association — a bod,y of seven thousand 

 teachers — was given to me, I said : "It is the finger of fate and my help 

 to the State Teachers' Association will be in planting trees and shrubs 

 where the country looks barren, and making it beautiful again." I told 

 the executive board that I wanted to work for Arbor Day and should 

 need a committee and some money. I think a great many of you re- 

 ceived a little circular last spring asking you, as public spirited citizens, 

 to help us along. President Waldo, Prof. Purnham and Dr. Harvey, 

 who are here tonight, helped us greatly in the Arbor Day work. The 

 ai)peal was wonderfully successful, I sent circulars to the members of 

 the Horticulaural Society and also to the members of the Grange, and 

 a great many of the societies organized throughout the state, and Ihe 

 Agricultural College helped us splendidly. The result was that two 

 million trees were planted last spring from the Agricultural College and 

 the nurseries, not to speak of those taken out of the forests and planted 

 in parks along the roadside. 



The watchword today is "Efficiency," and you are the horticnlturally 

 efficient people of this state. It is also the watchword in the schools, 

 and we are trying to improve the schools. I think you Avill realize if 

 you look back to your own neighborhood that the schools are pretty 

 backward, and we want to improve them in every way possible. In 

 driving near South Haven this last summer, we counted eight«en varie- 

 ties of crops growing. I Ihink you will also realize that the things fhat 

 need attention in most of our districts are not the fields, but the road- 

 side and the little country schools. They need beauty. They need more 

 than that — they need someone to teach nature to the children who go 

 there. You will find that the State Department of Education is doing 

 a great deal to improve conditions, and I am here to ask you to per- 

 sonally look over your country schools and help them along. It will 

 not be a very hard task, and will be a very pleasant one. The thing 

 that I propose is for each neighborhood to have a committee and an 

 Improvement Society and to plan each year for a splendid Arbor Day. 

 It is a pleasure for many people to organise, and this would give those 

 people an opportunity to get together and plan what can be done for 

 that little school. They may want to hold a social or something of that 

 kind to get some money. They may want to ask the people of the vicinity 

 to contribute something. If you have a pretty flower bed, it ought to 

 be a pleasure to send some bulbs over to the little school to help make 

 the school yard a beautiful spot. Children take a great interest in these 



