212 



HORTICULTUEE 



August 15, 1914 



Strange as it may seem, there are some incorrigible 

 people wlio cannot be induced to say they like Boston. 

 Our friends from the boundless West take exception to 

 its narrow and tortuous streets in which they invari- 

 ably lose their way, and in trying to get somewhere, 

 finally turn up at the spot from whence they started. To 

 the blase New Yorker, Boston is a "'one-horse town," 

 sadly lacking in life and amusement after 11 p. m. — 

 a good place in which to die ! Yet the natives think it 

 the best place on earth, the place of all places in which 

 to live and tliey make no secret of their belief. "Boston 

 State House is the hub of the solar system. Y^ou 

 couldn't pry that out of a Boston man if you had the 

 tire of all creation straightened out for a cross-bar." 



In these days of guide-books and catalogues, sight- 

 seeing autos and souvenir post cards ad infinitum, a 

 mass of statistical compilations and exhaustive review 

 of Boston's history for nearly 300 years and a descrip- 

 tive illustrated catalogue of the many places of interest, 

 historical, commercial or romantic, in and about the city, 

 would be both superfluous and tiresome. We realize, 

 however, that 

 our readers will 

 expect us to say 

 something about 

 the Convention 

 City, what i t 

 stands for and 

 what it is doing 

 in the field of 

 horticulture, and 

 we shall try to 

 comply w i t h 

 prem e d i t a t e d 

 brevity, keeping 

 in mind and ob- 

 serving as far as 

 possible the ad- 

 vice in the old- 

 t i m e popular 

 ballad : 



"Solid men of Bos- 

 ton, make no long 

 or.ations ! 



Solid men of Bos- 

 ton, biiuish strong 

 potations!" 



Boston As It Is 



Boston h a s, 

 with good rea- 

 s o n been 



Spot Poku in Miduleskx Pei.i.s. 



*'wMt',^r^l,m'",n,i%"o/™''^ ?'■ '°f^' reservation comprisiuii abont mm a< res of land and 

 water, lull and dale, under the control of tlie Metropolitan Park Commission It is 

 loeatcd hve to six miles from Boston in tlie towns of Winchester. Stonehain and Med- 

 ford, and reached l.y Fellsway, or Mystic Valley Parkway 



termed the most interesting city in America. 

 Certainly it is, in many respects, "different," and 

 to this fact is due much of its quaintness and 

 charm. From the group of six states almost 

 isolated geographically from the rest of the United 

 States and known as New England, Boston is the 

 centre of transportation, commerce, finance, industry 

 and social life. From all parts of this section has been 

 recruited the proud list of great men who in one way or 

 another have made for tliemsolves and for Boston a 

 world-wide and imperishable renown, and from Boston, 

 into and throughout this New England country, has 

 emanated the light of Boston's influence, inspiration and 

 character. 



Among the people of such a territory we should nat- 

 urally look for the impress of superior horticultural en- 

 lightenment and an exceptionally keen appreciation of 

 the garden and garden jjroducts. Under such encour- 

 agcm^ent are evolved advanced -exponents of the science 

 and art of hoiticulture and within such environment the 

 spirit of useful and constructive activity finds its great- 

 est stimulus. It 

 is not surpris- 

 ing, then, that 

 in this favored 

 section we find 

 by far the larg- 

 est number of 

 liortieultural or- 

 ganizations i n 

 any territory of 

 equal size on the 

 American conti- 

 nent. 



The city of 

 Boston "proper" 

 is of very lim- 

 ited extent geo- 

 graphically. As 

 a metropolitan 

 community Bos- 

 ton is really a 

 group of forty 

 municipalities 

 aggregating 

 within a radius 

 of twelve miles 

 a po|)ulation of 

 1 ,r>00,000, a 1 1 

 closely allied in- 

 dustrially and 



