204 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



made at an expense of several thous- 

 ands of dollars, and on that lake many 

 kinds of waterfowl. In regard to it a 

 reader said : "That is not guidance to 

 nature. That is exhibiting to us what 

 to us is unattainable." I retorted, "Do 

 you really want a little bit of water and 

 are you interested in waterfowl?' "Yes, 

 certainly," he said, "I would have them 

 if I were rich." "Would you really?" 

 I still insisted. "Then in that little 

 pool in your back yard, why do you 

 not keep at least a duck or a goose?" 

 "That would not be a lake." "It would 

 be water and a waterfowl. You are 

 not admiring nature so much as you 

 are admiring this lake and these water- 

 fowl as you are admiring the millions 

 that made them possible." If the read- 

 er says that we are tantalizing him 

 when we show him that beautiful lawn 

 with its shrubbery and its magnificent 

 trees, the question may well be asked. 

 Are you interested in the things or in 

 the money that makes them possible ? 

 If you love plants you can get at least 

 one shrub for your front yard, or one 

 plant in a pot of earth. There is the 

 lesson that Mr McDermant is teaching. 

 He shows us that real love of plants, 

 even when one has not hundreds of 

 acres for exploiting them, may be a 

 resource and recreation in life. When 

 American people with their clamor- 

 ings for eight hours of sleep, eight 

 hours of work and eight hours of rest 

 shall have learned how to use to better 

 advantage those eight hours of rest in 

 the simple resources of nature, then 

 we may be ready for even shorter 

 hours of work and longer hours of rec- 

 reation. I firmly believe that the big 

 problem before the American people is 

 not shorter hours of labor, but how to 

 make the eight hours of recreation more 

 helpful and beneficial. Having a lake 

 and waterfowl is one method, having 

 gladioli, geraniums and buckwheat, if 

 you please, is another. There are still 

 others as we from time to time shall 

 continue to prove. But the lesson that 

 we learn this month from Mr. McDer- 

 mant is that plants not for the dollars 

 and cents that may be in them as a 

 resource in life are really worth while. 

 Here is a good point in guidance to 

 nature and here is the reason for this 

 article. 



It will be of interest to our readers 

 to know the arrangement and the ex- 

 tent of plants, shrubs and bulbs in 

 which Mr. McDermant has taken es- 

 pecial interest for the summer of 1916. 



East Wall: Gladioli, Princeps, 1500; 

 Phlox, Drummondi, 300; Hemlocks, 

 100. 



South Wall : Petunia, Rosy morn, 

 2000; Gladoli, Princeps, 1500; Spirea, 

 Van Houttei, 40; German Iris, 1500. 



West Wall : Rosa Rugosa, 40, Hy- 

 brids, 100; German Iris, 1500. 



Drive Border: Paeonies, Grandiflora 

 Rosea, 100 



Circular Beds : Cannas, King Hum- 

 bert, 200 ; Salvia, Splendens, 300 ; Ger- 

 anium, Grant, 200; Tuberous Begonia, 

 250. 



Old-fashioned Garden : Perennials 

 assorted, Conifers in groups. 



Up Pond. 



Up pond, what a cool retreat. 

 Away from the village street, 

 With its noise and dust and heat ! 



Up pond, where the wild flowers grow, 

 That are sprinkling its banks with snow, 

 That so silently come and go. 



Up pond, where the tall pines stand, 



A most dignified little band. 



Left intact by the woodman's hand. 



Up pond, that is fringed with ferns ; 

 Where, at all its sinuous turns, 

 New beauty one discerns. 



Up pond, to the island, where. 

 In a bower of all things fair, 

 The water nymphs comb their hair. 



You never have seen them then? 

 You must go at the moment when 

 They are visible to men. 



And when is the moment, pray? 



That is not for me to say ; 



You'll find out for yourself, some day! 



— Emma Peirce. 



Mr. Charles Dawson, discoverer of one 

 of the oldest of known human fossils, 

 Eoanthropus daivsoni, has lately died at 

 the age of fifty-two. He was strictly an 

 amateur naturalist, a lawyer by profes- 

 sion, who devoted his leisure to the study 

 of the fossils of a local quarry. Quite 

 incidentally, therefore, he made one of 

 the greatest finds in the history of 

 paleontology. 



