April 10, 1915 



HORTICULTUBB 



491 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 

 Spring Flower Show. 

 The interior of tlie Royal Horticul- 

 tural Hall, in London, was gay with 

 the blooms of forced bulbs, on Tues- 

 day, March 16th. Several of the firms 

 made excellent displays in beds on the 

 ground level. Carter & Sons had an 

 artistic arrangement of beds of snow- 

 drops, bordered by golden crocuses, 

 whilst the level turf sparkled with 

 bright blooms. Sutton & Sons made a 

 brilliant display with 1,000 hyacinths, 

 the rich tints forming a charming 

 color scheme. This was awarded a 

 gold medal. The blooms have since 

 been adding a touch of brightness to 

 two of the principal hospitals where 

 wounded soldiers are under treatment. 



A Sweet Pea Selection. 

 With the multiplicity of sweet peas 

 contained in the seedmen's lists it is 

 not surprising that the ordinary buyer 

 is usually bewildered at this season in 

 making his selection. The National 

 Sweet Pea Society, with a view to sim- 

 plifying matters, sometime ago recom- 

 mended the following as the best 

 Spencer varieties for garden decora- 

 tion: Edith Taylor, Duplex Spencer, 

 Mrs. CuthbeVtson, Mrs. H. Sykes, 

 Marchioness Tweedale, Nora Unwin, 

 Nubian, R. F. Felton, Rosabelle. Sun- 

 proof Crimson (or Maud Holmes), 

 Thomas Stevenson and Queen of Nor- 

 way. 



Floral Isles. 

 The French flower season is drawing 

 to a close. There has been consider- 

 able interruption and delay in the de- 

 livery of the packages from the south 

 of France, consequent on the war. 

 When the fertile gardens of southern 

 France have yielded their lavish array 

 of fragrant blossom the market flor- 

 ists turn their attention to the many 

 acred gardens of the Scilly Isles. 

 These floral isles are situated in the 

 Atlantic, some 25 miles southwest of 

 Cornwall. Here acres of golden daffo- 

 dils and delicate narcissi form a nat- 

 ural carpet of indescribable charm. 

 Formerly early potatoes proved a 

 profitable crop for the Scillonians. 

 until a former proprietor of the islands 

 sent an experimental basket of the 

 wild narcissi to market, with a result 

 so encouraging that other islanders fol- 

 lowed his example. In the season 

 there is now a regular service of boats 

 conveying the floral freights to Pen- 

 zance, whence the consignments are 

 sent to London and the principal 

 provincial markets. The flower har- 

 vest has brought prosperity to a 

 thrifty race who inhabit these verdant 

 isles set in the broad Atlantic. 



W. H. All.-^KTT. 



FENCES AND GARDENS. 

 In the old New Kiigland village 

 where the editor was brought up, ev- 

 ery house was once separated from 

 the street by a fence or a hedge, and 

 the space between this fence or hedge 

 and the dwelling was often a riot of 

 old fashioned "posies." How well we 

 can recall the mossy brick path .vhich 

 led from the yellow gateway of the 

 Appleton house to the Doric porch one 



Flor.^l Booth at the New York Show by Max Schung 



hundred feet away— a path lined on 

 both sides with delphiniums five feet 

 tall. Little Miss Appleton. in black, 

 used always to be coming down or 

 going up this path, snipping with a 

 huge pair of shears, when you peeped 

 through the gate on your way home 

 from school or market. It was a 

 quaint, intimate, pretty revelation, 

 i^linipsi^d through the Appleton gate. 



But the Appleton house was merely 

 one of many which peeped over its 

 hedge or ferce. and looked down into 

 a quiet garden in the space between. 

 Even very small and humble houses 

 had their fences, their screen of shrub- 

 bery, and boasted at least nasturtiums 

 and portulaca along the front path. No- 

 body had to go out behind his house 

 for privacy. No passer along the 

 streets had to stare at the naked revel- 

 ation of unguarded and unadorned 

 house-fronts. Each dwelling was de- 

 cently screened and suggested domes- 

 tic privacy and garden charm. 



We should hardly care to return to 

 that village today. It has been "im- 

 proved." 



FVom this point, we shall quote 

 from an article in ".'Vrt and Progress." 

 written by Martha B. Hutcheson. and 

 sent to us by a subscriber to "Stock- 

 bridge." 



"But the peiuluhini of clinuge had to 

 swing - ■ iiii'l Inihiy "C Hud ""^ o''' 



garden wliero fiirnierly tliere were hun- 

 dreds. Practicilly every fence, every hedge 

 has disappeared: the flower borders and 

 the plum trees and inilnees Lave gone too, 

 .iiid a lawn uitli a few nurseryman's 

 shrubs has taken their places. Woe to tlie 

 day tliat tlie so-called "village improve- 

 ment" spirit swept over so many of our 

 New England towns! ... It spoiled 

 more lovely .\ew England spots than any 

 of us can imagine, and. worst of all, it set 

 a hideous and stn|)id example of treatment 

 it will take the efforts of decades to nndo. 

 It also taught the lack of privacy. . . . 



"The new fashbui was two-fold in Its 



devastation. It robbed the home not only 

 of its garden but of its privacy, and it 

 robbed the highway of its most valuable 

 lines of margin and perspective. . . . H 

 the property line is not marked, and if 

 what should make the final enclosure or 

 frame to the street scheme has been taken 

 awav, the whole formality of the margin 

 of the street, from an esthetic view, has 

 been lost. ... ^ ^ 



"Let New England wake up and set an 

 example, taking as her guide all the sense 

 of poetry and beauty that belongs to the 

 tradition of her old time gardens, and ap- 

 ply them to the homes of today. . . . 

 Everyone owning even an eighth of an acre 

 sliould feel that to beautify it is expected 

 of him. If a man can own a house he 

 surely can afford a hedge between it and 

 the .street, some flowers in his dooryard. 

 vines on the porch, and shade trees. . . • 

 Beauty is not always in proportion to 

 elaboration." 



Stockbridge did not escape the "im- 

 proving" which Mrs. Hutcheson com- 

 plains of so bitterly. Privacy here 

 was ruthlessly swept away, and the 

 door vard gardens disappeared. There 

 isn't one left on the whole length of 

 Main street, and few enough anywhere 

 in town. The loss was great, far 

 "reater than any fancied gain. The 

 street looks no better, if as well, aiid 

 the houses lose in individuality, in 

 charm, in home-like feeling. 



But there are distinct signs that we, 



in common with other communities, 



are returning slowly to a saner ideal. 



The tendency now is undoubtedly to 



erect fences rather than to tear them 



down (though they are sometimes 



pretty uglv fences), and to treat at 



least the front walk as a garden feat. 



ure Some dav we shall realize that 



the bare lawn running down to tlie 



street line, leaving the house naked 



and exposed, belongs to the same era 



of taste as black walnut bureaus with 



marble tops, and a head of Minerva 



over the mirror. 



— Btockbndge. 



