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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



convention, and who were instrumental in electing to the 

 presidency iVIr. Waite, who, I may safely say, is one of the 

 ablest and most representative gardeners we have in 

 America today. The cabinet and board of trustees, who 

 have been elected with him, are leading and practical 

 gardeners, and they are all working for the furtherance 

 of this splendid society. We all know the good work 

 Mr. Ebel has dune for the gardeners in the past, and he 

 has now taken over the editorship of the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, which is one of the few papers that really 

 represent the private gardener in this country. We 

 should all join this movement and hasten the time when 

 we shall be bound more closely together by a strong tie. 

 I will venture to say that the day is not far distant when 

 gardeners, the world over, shall brothers be. As the 

 flowers we cultivate are known universally throughout the 

 world by one name, so should all true gardeners, irre- 

 spective of nationality or creed, be known throughout the 

 world by one great fraternal body, obligated to help one 

 another. Then shall we fully understand the true lan- 

 guage of the flowers, which speaks of beauty, purity and 

 love. 



There should be a mutual understanding and co-opera- 

 tion between the gardener and his employer, the gardener 

 ever remembering that his efforts and' abilty are only 

 appreciated inasmuch and no further than that they fully 

 conform and meet the approval of his employer. You 

 may say that this is not "garden making," but take it 

 from one who has been along the line, we have got to 

 measure pretty close to this rule before we are trusted 

 with the making of a garden. 



It must be remembered that no gardener has ever }et 

 made a perfect garden. The progressive gardener in all 

 ages was always planning schemes for the further im- 

 provement of his garden. We should aim at having our 

 gardens a perfect picture from early spring imtil late in 

 the fall. In order to do this we must take i^ains and 

 properly classify our vegetables, allotting each varietv 

 its proper place in the garden, allowing sufficient space 

 for cultivation and air, so that the plants may grow to 

 perfection and yet not be crowded. This applies to the 

 herbaceous borders, annual beds, small fruits, herbs, and 

 everything that grows within the garden, and we know 

 we cannot produce this perfect picture without the use 

 of the 10-foot measuring rod, the line, hoe and rake. We 

 may thus have our gardens properly planted, but trusted 

 the edging of our paths and walks to an inexperienced 

 laborer, with the result that one end of the walk is six- 

 inches wider than the other. I will liken this to a wealthy 

 person purchasing a valuable painting and surrounding 

 the great masterpiece with a cheap, poorly made frame. 

 Then our walks and paths are the framework of our gar- 

 dens, and we should see that ihey are in perfect order. 



You may be a first-class greenhouse man, know all about 

 the care of lawns, the planting and care of shrubs and 

 trees, but your ability as a gardener is not measured by 

 this, for as all men are known by their works, so the 

 true gardener is judged by his work of art in the 

 garden. 



There is a great deal yet to be said about garden mak- 

 ing, but as I am going to finish in a few more sentences, 

 I will here leave garden making and return to "( gardening 

 as a Profession." I could quote you numerous lofty ex- 

 pressions coined by the great immortal poets. Their 

 definition of our calling will never die. There is no other 

 profession that leads man closer to nature than gardening, 

 and we know the benefit that thus comes to us by being 

 "Alone with nature, and alone with God." In all large 

 cities today we see architects unconsciously erecting to 

 themselves monuments in the shape of towering build- 

 ings of iron, stone and plaster. These large buildings will 

 last long after them, but eventually they must succumb to 

 the storms and blasts of time, before whose hand they 

 must crumble and decay and be no more. Then there is 

 the great artist who comes ne.xt to the poet and the gar- 

 dener. He puts forth wonderful reality in his pictures, 

 causing the brush to reproduce the great conceptions of 

 his poetic soul. This great artist dies, but his mas'ter- 

 ]5iece still lives, but we know that in the fullness of time 

 this wonderful painting will, too, crumble and decay, it 

 will be some day forever lost, but the gardener who dis- 

 seminates but one little flow'er and givetli it to the world, 

 hath erected to his memory a far greater and more last- 

 ing monument than the architect or the artist, for will not 

 Mother Nature take this little flower to her breast, and 

 we know that this flower and its name shall live and last 

 as the hills shall last. Flowers are to the sick a healing 

 balm ; they reveal to all of us the mysterious in nature. 

 The flowers that bloom in our gardens return to us each 

 year like old and trusted friends, their fragrance brings 

 back to memory many happy thoughts of other days 

 and bygone scenes, they unfold the intensity of their color 

 for our admiration and inspiration. Who amongst us 

 hath not seen the flower in all its glory and perfection 

 and hath not observed the great mysterious hand of na- 

 ture lay it to a period of rest, and who amongst us hath 

 not to ourselves said, that ere long we, too, shall be laid 

 to a period of rest? Then grant that, by this same mys- 

 terious hand of nature, we shall awake to find ourselves 

 safely transplanted within the four square walls of that 

 great unknown garden, there to bloom throughout eter- 

 nity. Man's intelligence can never be expanded to 

 fathom the mysterious in nature and implanted within 

 every rational breast is a vivid conception of some future 

 existence. It may be one great garden within whose 

 borders ever bloom the better part of nian. — b'xtract. 



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