42 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



most landscapes, and are worthy of note. They 

 are artificial materials, and at best they are 

 necessary eyesores, but in the majority of cases 

 their necessity is only imaginary. If all of the 

 really unnecessary fences were removed, and 

 the ground which they occupy leveled and 

 seeded down or put under crop it would make a 

 wonderful difference in the appearance of the 

 country. It would remove a great harbor for 

 weeds and Insects; it would effect a great sav- 

 ing of labor and expense, and it would remove 

 one of the most striking features which adver- 

 tise the slovenly farmers all over the country. 

 The only fences necessary, or which should be 

 necessary, are those for the purpose of fencing 

 in stock, and not fencing out that of our neigh- 

 bors. Fences, in many cases, might be mov- 

 able or temporary. Roadside fences in many 

 sections might be dispensed with, the ground 

 levelled and seeded and the grass kept mowed 

 from the boundary to the roadbed. Bill Nye 

 says that " the farm without a fence in front of 

 it looks as if the owner were honest and thought 

 his neighbors the same." If a permanent fence 

 is necessary let it be as inconspicuous as possi- 

 ble, or let it be an ornamental hedge. 



Some of the other artificial materials some- 

 times used in landscape gardening are trees, 

 trimmed into fantastic shape, fountains and 

 statuary, fiower beds of geometrical designs. 

 All these are artificial and' should be used with 

 as much discretion as one should use in wearing 

 fine jewellery. The more the artificial prevails 

 in the general surroundings the more these can 

 be used without giving offense. In proximity 

 to large and expensive buildings, or in extensive 

 parks, they may have their place, but on the 

 farmer's lawn, where most of the surroundings 

 are natural, and where the buildings are not 

 elaborate and costly, they would be altogether 

 out of place. 



Another excellent paper was contribute 

 by Mr. A. K. Goodman, secretary of the 

 Cayuga Horticultural Society, through 

 whose exertions the town of Cayuga and its 

 surroundings have been wonderfully im- 

 proved during the past few years. The fol- 

 lowing is his paper : 



THE WORK OF OUR HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETIES IN OUR TOWNS AND CITIES. 



THE work of our Horticultural Societies 

 depends largely on the individual en- 

 thusiasm of its members. The world 

 has been full of great messages. 

 There has been wonderful progress 

 and development in literature and art, in all that 

 is beautiful and good. The message of this so- 

 ciety is to take up the work and receive in re- 

 turn better health, a new lease of life. Who 

 are to be the messengers ? The local societie.5 

 that we have formed. After the message is 

 well established it becomes the message to the 



individual. This is to join the local society, to 

 improve your own surroundings and get a home 

 of your own. That means that you are to get 

 up early and live a regular life. If you study 

 nature, the first thing that strikes you is the 

 system about it.- 



A lesson that the society needs is the lesson 

 of co-operation. See that your town is in the 

 front rank of improvement. Keep pounding 

 away until you fairly make the council take hold 

 and do something. It is pretty ha,rd for one 

 man to go to the council and try to get them in- 

 terested. It is the individual member's duty to 

 promote an interest by growing everything he 

 can as well as he can, improving everything, and 

 giving the world what he can. I do something 

 like my friend, Mr. Race, and provide all my 

 friends and my neighbors with boxes of fiowers, 

 and it looks as though I was in the business 

 and expected a return for it. My return is im- 

 provement in my own character, and in my 

 other lines of work. 



The most important thing around the town is 

 the drainage, and the horticultural societies 

 should take very great interest in that, because 

 on the drainage depends the health of the com- 

 munity. Water, like men, to keep out of mis- 

 chief, must be always on the move. There 

 must be no stagnant pools. The roads should 

 all drain to their proper water courses, the gar- 

 dens should be drained, and everything about 

 the property should be drained. The water 

 should keep moving. You look in a man's back 

 yard and see nature working out her system of 

 irrigation. T-here is a dry spell, and the earth 

 opens in cracks and fissures. The heavy rain 

 comes, and away rushes all that fever and dis- 

 ease into the well, and soon a typhoid fever 

 breaks out and a loved one is lost. All this 

 because the man did not realize the message 

 that was brought to him by the horticultural 

 society. Another thing, it encourages thrift 

 about the home. Many of the crimes of the age 

 are due to idleness. You are very lucky in the 

 neighborhood if idleness does not lead to drink 

 or crime. 



Coming back to the home, a good beginning 

 is the planting of an asparagus bed, or the 

 growing of a little parsley. Get a man started, 

 and soon he will want to sl^ow his work to 

 everybody. 



Then go to the schools. We neglect our 

 schools. Some of the trustees neglect the school 

 building. They will not go into the building to 

 see if it is properly lighted or heated, or the 

 grounds laid out properly and the children given 

 a chance to play. I was glad to see that in To- 

 ronto Junction they have spent $12,000 in get- 

 ting a playground for the school. In most cities 

 they skimp the school grounds. If you do not 

 begin with the children you might as well drop 

 the work right now, because you cannot ex- 

 pect older people to break off their habits. 

 You must get the children interested first. 



Then go along the streets, to the different 

 public places. The street is often neglected as to 

 shade trees. They should exist for beauty, and 

 for the protection of the pedestrian. Also, they 



