AN ASSOCIATION AS AN INCENTIVE, ETC. 20/ 



All this work was not done without hard labor and giving of 

 time and effort without compensation. There were also those who 

 did not approve of this method of stimulating the love of neatness 

 and beauty. Some thought the giving of prizes was wrong in 

 principle and that in practice it would lead to jealousy. Some v/cre 

 afraid to enter the competition for fear people would think they 

 were working for the prizes. Others feared, and with some good 

 ground for it, that if we refrained from throwing tomato cans in 

 the back yard and cleaned the ash piles away from the back steps 

 and used a mower on the front lawn, that the assessor would take 

 note of the improvement and fine the householder on his tax as- 

 sessment. Yet in spite of fears and knockings the good work grew 

 and prospered. 



The prizes given this season have been largely in the way of 

 flower seeds, of shrubbery and plants from the various seed houses 

 and nurseries, or of books on flower lore and the keeping of home 

 grounds, and of magazines on out-door art. Among the associa- 

 tion's prizes were fifteen annual subscriptions to the Garden Maga- 

 zine, and several subscriptions to Country Life in America. As 

 you doubtless know these glorious magazines are so attractive as 

 to sometimes turn the thoughts of even an automobilist toward 

 the garden. Our idea in the giving of prizes is that they shall be 

 conducive to the spirit that the contest has been organized to pro- 

 mote. 



Summing up the result of our summer's campaign, we have 

 substantial reasons to feel encouraged. We hear people enquiring 

 about flowers and vowing to have a brighter and better flower 

 garden the coming year. The flower association is planning a few 

 meetings after the holidays, when the new nursery catalogs come 

 out. These will serve as a stimulant for garden enthusiasm to 

 begin the coming year. We did not expect to do much the first 

 year, but we have done far more than we had hoped for. We be- 

 lieve that the coming season will much surpass the past in home 

 ground beauty in our surburb and in home ground love. Our 

 gardens are largely made up of the hardy, perennial kinds that are 

 planted with the intent that they shall grow better from year to 

 year. Our women are learning more about flowers and necessarily 

 loving them more. Our men are learning to run the lawn mowers 

 with resignation and skill — some even with pride. 



In conclusion let me say that all that Mrs. La Penotierre may 

 say to you this afternoon on the broadening influence of a study club 

 on the life of woman applies directly to my theme. We too are a 

 study club. Our program is drawn from Nature's own wide open 

 book, and our aim is that her secrets may become ours and her 

 methods be applied in our gardening experiments. 



