THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



541 



is not just what it seems. Landscape architect or land- 

 scape designer would be more approjiriate in every way, 

 since the efforts of the person referred to are devoted 

 mainly to design. In a way there is the same relation be- 

 tween the designer and the gardener as there is between 

 the building architect and the contractor. The two are 

 specialists in their own way. We have the specialties of 

 designing and architecture contrasted with those of gar- 

 dening and building. l!ut while tiiere is an apparent 

 similarity that may well be kept in mind in many of our 

 dealings with the professional designer tliere is a differ- 

 ence that should never be lost sight of. A building archi- 

 tect is called upon to work in certain proportions that 

 through custom have been shown to call forth pleasing 

 combination. He may alter these combinations of pro- 

 portion and balance for certain well defined reasons. He 

 can fix the color harmony fairly definitely becauie of 

 the material he sees. He can alter existing color 

 schemes as he wills by the use of paint. He can call 

 for texture and for high lights where he wills liecause 

 his material is inert and susceptible to definite and prac- 

 tically permanent form. The landscape designer works 

 along the same lines as regards proportion, color and 

 texture that the building architect docs, but unless he is 

 a rightly good gar<iener he cannot indicate his materials 

 with the same ease that the building architect does. The 

 building architect's materials are not so numerous, and 

 are not affected by form changes as are plant materials. 

 The building architect calls for red brick and the clay 

 for them may come from Dakota or Louisiana. It mat- 

 ters not. The landscape designer usually calls for a defi- 

 nite shrub or tree that he happens to know will answer 

 the purpose for that locality. When he changes his local- 

 ity then he must learn his materials anew. And because 

 his time is devoted to the design and ultimate effect pri- 

 marily, he is not apt to accumulate any wonderful store- 

 room of knowledge of material. I have often felt that the 

 ideal solution from the gardener's standpoint at least. 

 would be for the artist to design his picture along the 

 lines of some standard of texture and color and height, 

 and then let the gardener indicate the plants to produce 

 certain effects. It is the gardener's business and from his 

 training he is more properly fitted than any one else 

 could be to do the work. However, few designers would 

 have the patience or the ability to carefully design their 

 shrubbery masses along the lines of texture, color and 

 form, and they find it easier to suggest materials from 

 their scant storehouse, when the gardener could, if he 

 could ever find what was really wanted, supply the ma- 

 terial best suited to the purpose. It leaves us open to the 

 conviction that plant masses are either monotonous repe- 

 titions of common plantations, or else have never been 

 given the attention that they deserve, and it is to be hoped 

 that when the day comes, that gardeners tire of seeing 

 plant material subjected to the indiL;nilics of improper 

 association, then the gardeners will insist on knowing 

 W'hat it is that the artist is trying (o p.iint. The picture 

 should be painted from the ideal of iIk- ;irtisl. The pic- 

 ture should be executed from the knowledge and tin- va^t 

 experience of the- gardener. 



Specialization is one of the characteristics of aii\ pro- 

 fession, and as noted before has entered largely into that 

 of gardening. However, specialization in phases of gar- 

 dening has not alwavs required or induced that general 

 training and knowledge of the profession as a whole that 

 has been recpured of other professions in wdiich college 

 courses and degrees have siefnificd definite lines of study 

 and definite preparation. The tendency of the times is 

 to recognize the distinctive character of gardeninfr and 

 to require of it a preparation that will have a general ten- 



dency i)ef(H'e specialization does finalh' set in. The value 

 ol this general traming along horiticultural and agricul- 

 tural lines can hardly be estimated, but graduation from 

 the horticultural courses in institutions of good standing 

 shoidd be perquisite, and degrees in gardening should 

 carry as much weight as they do in law, medicine and 

 the like. It is only a question of time when as much 

 thought will be given to preparation for the profession of 

 gardening as for any other profession. Then, too, such 

 general preparation is necessary in order that there shall 

 be the broadness and openness of outlook and thought 

 that should permeate the members of all professions. \\ e 

 should be Interesteil in and in sympathy with the things 

 jjertaining to gardening in all fields. Our vision should 

 be broad enough to appreciate the aesthetic or the prac- 

 tical side of a profession. It should be broad enough 

 to l)e equally interested and conversant with the prol.)- 

 lems of plant breeding, of botany, of physiology and of 

 entomology, zoology or geology. Narrowness of thought 

 is not compatible with a profession that had its begin- 

 nings in the eons before human life began and that has 

 been shaped and formed by all the present and past 

 forces of nature. Life and the elements have all played 

 their part in gardening, and history has from time to 

 time shaped its course, and today it is as full of the spirit 

 of life and of promises for the future as it has ever 

 been. He is a poor gardener indeed who can fail to be 

 inspired with the reality of his occupation, or who can 

 fail to get from association with it, the purity of thought 

 and the honesty of purpose that should be a part of any 

 natural profession. P>roadness of i)urpose makes us bet- 

 ter companions and InHtt'r workers, for association with 

 nature does just that. 



LUit in closing let me add just a word or two in regard 

 to that side of gardening that tends to be in reality 

 manual labor. It seems to me that in the final analysis all 

 things are learned through work. Work may be mental 

 or physical, but either way it is work. However, these 

 things that one learned through practical experience 

 seem to have a firmer grip upon our memories than do 

 those things that are learned mentally. The child learns 

 through association of objects and symbols, through the 

 sense of sight and smell and touch. P.eing merely told 

 that the stove is hot does not suffice to keep the fingers 

 away, but the pain of contact teaches a lesson that is 

 not forgotten. So in gardening our mental lessons have 

 ilicir value, but tlu' association with real work gives us a 

 knowledge that later on will temper us in our attitude 

 toward the garden laborer. We will also have the security 

 tiiat conies of really knowing how. and the day's work 

 will have more of life in it for the knowing. As success 

 attains our efforts and as the days of real work give 

 place to the forces of supervision and direction there 

 w ill conic to \i)ii ;il times an intense longing to once more 

 ,;et the feel of the soil in your hands, to hoe .Tud spade 

 and to be up and doinc. The gardener longs for the in- 

 liin.ite association with his work, he must be near nature, 

 but in time he will get to feel that the directive forces 

 of bis own mind are accomplishing tilings throusrh the 

 many finsers of others, and that one little mind with 

 many helpers is doing the work that feeds the millions 

 when the\- are Iiuiktx' and that gives them co'nfort when 

 the\- are in need. Ours is a profession of which we mav 

 well be proud, for it reives of itself, and it nrnsners in 

 the giving. Through life it gives n? strensfth and happi- 

 ness, and when old acre calls us to its border line, it still 

 gives UD to us new secrets and new ideas. It i<= a foun- 

 tain of etern;d youth. It is really "an artistic profession." 



'Paper read before tlic convention of tlic National .\Rsociation of Gar- 

 deners, Horticultural Ilall, Boston, Mass., December 9. 



