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the old and more common shrubs. They have not kept up 

 to date through lack of appropriation or fear that the people 

 will break the flowers. This can be translated as lack of public 

 demand due to ignorance. Highland Park, Rochester, has 

 over 350 varieties of lilacs. The other departments and other 

 shrubs are in proportion. Unfortunately it does not have an 

 illustrated catalogue. The Arnold Arboretum publishes a guide 

 and a series of popular bulletins and from them can be dug out 

 the information you need on the best of the newer shrubs. Can 

 somebody finance a book illustrating the new and good things? 



Quarantine 37 was given as the cause of lack of novelties at 

 the Flower Show. It is more particularly the cause of lack of 

 the best rhododendrons, azaleas, evergreens, and flowering shrubs. 

 If you want what is best, ask for it. You will not always 

 get the best things, because they are difiicult to get and difficult 

 to propagate and often do not sell at a profit. 



Don't hesitate to ask to see shrubs, etc., on private estates. 

 I doubt if your intrusion on private grounds to ask about plants 

 will be resented one time in twenty. People who have beautiful 

 grounds and beautiful plants like to share their joys. 



In improving your own grounds don't hesitate to move almost 

 anything at almost anytime of the year. That is my hobby and 

 I believe my conceit pardonable if I claim some credit for chang- 

 ing landscape planting from spring and fall to all the year. 



Ornamental shrubs can be either the most or least important 

 part of your landscape and very properly so. One place should 

 have decoration with annuals, bulbs, and perennials; another 

 with shrubs; and another with trees. Another may be nature 

 let alone, as on the Shinnecock Hills, Long Island, Wherever 

 you are, you are learning to understand and enjoy the earth and 

 sky. Knowledge of the shrubs will help you as much as know- 

 ledge of geology, if you use the New York Walk Book. 



Mr. George Nash, the late Head Gardener of The New York 

 Botanical Garden, once said, "There is no royal road to know- 

 ledge." He still relied on the analytical keys of botany. There 

 are, however, many short cuts to the names of shrubs. You 

 may know plants with or without a name, but a name is a con- 

 venient handle for knowledge and enables you to make your 

 home surroundings more quiet, useful, and beautiful. 



Henry Hicks. 



