466 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



yards, front and rear, of premises owned or occupied by one whose 

 income did not exceed twelve hundred dollars ($1,200) per annum; 

 and first and second (for each district) for yard, front and rear, 

 of premises owned or occupied by one whose income did not ex- 

 ceed $1,200 per annum showing greatest improvement during the 

 season. In addition to these, Northrup, King & Co. offered a cash 

 prize for the yard judged to be the most attractive, and another for 

 the one showing greatest improvement during the season of all 

 in the city. The Jewell Nursery Co. offered prizes in plants. It is 

 important to bear in mind the qualification "whose income does not 

 exceed $1,200 per annum," and also that no limitation was placed in 

 the opposite direction. Consequently it did not debar any one on 

 that end of the scale — not even that much excluded group, the last- 

 named of that- gruesome trio so often mentioned on our statute 

 books for the sole purpose of exclusion, and for legal convenience so 

 amazingly classified. We did not meet any of the first-named 

 nor of the second named of that trio, but of the last named, the "mar- 

 ried women," we met a great many, and they interested us the more 

 because they seemed to have more to contend with and because they 

 did seem to have greater difficulties to overcome. I will begin with 

 them. 



There was one woman whose yard when we visited it in the 

 spring was as bare and unattractive as anything could possibly be 

 that was clean — for it was clean; even the dirt was clean and looked 

 as though it had been scrubbed and rinsed until nothing could be 

 expected to grow out of it, and clean old boards were used for walks 

 and fences, both of which bore unmistakable evidence of feminine 

 construction. The yard was all in the rear, for the house stood 

 so close to the street and at so great an elevation from the street, 

 because of grading, that there was no room for anything except a 

 precipice in front. 



When we visited this same place again in August the transforma- 

 tion reminded me of the fairy stories that children delight to hear 

 where at a wave of the fairy godmother's wand the ugly becomes 

 the beautiful. Here was a realization of it all, and this busy woman, 

 in her clean, blue calico dress, was the fairy, and her willing hands 

 the potent wand. All of that clean, ugly dirt was covered by a pro- 

 fusion of brilliant plants, every inch of space except that occupied by 

 the clean old boards was a mass of gorgeous color. Even the old, 

 eccentric looking fences and sheds were covered with vines, and the 

 plants could easily shake hands across the board walks. Every 

 well known annual was there; such a well cared for, jubilant collec- 

 tion of old friends from the flower kingdom is seldom met with — 

 all looking as merry as a May party. 



Another representation of the "married women" group peeked at 

 us from* behind the house where she was engaged in removing the 

 surface of her entire town lot, in order to replace it with rich loam. 

 She did not become visible, except as to her eyes and top of her 

 head, until a sudden inspection revealed our identity, when she hast- 

 ened to meet us and to tell us that she had been much afraid that 

 her "improvements" would be all completed before the committee 

 had been enabled to see the place in its original unadorned condition. 



