436 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIS2. 



have been made at much better fij4"ure.s ban 

 prevailed before we began our work. The 

 increase in the value of real estate is 

 directly attributable to the improvements 

 which have been made by our society. 



What we have done others may do. We 

 have proved to our satisfaction that a large 

 amount of money is not needed in an under- 

 taking of this kind. Organized effort is the 

 important thing. Of course some money will 

 be needed, but the sums coming in from 

 dues will generally be found sufticient to 

 meet all demands, unless improvements far 

 more elaborate than ours are undertaken. If 

 more is needed, it will be forthcoming, 1 am 

 confident, for everyone will feel a personal 

 interest and responsibility in the accom- 

 plishment of what has been undertaken, and 

 thev will not be willing to let failure result 

 from lack of means to carry it forward to 

 satisfactory completion. 



In almost any village the young people 

 could be enlisted in the work, and they 

 could give entertainments for the benefit of 

 the society and thus realize a good sum, 

 since everybody would feel in duty bound to 

 patronize them. 



We have not been ambitious to make 



costly experiments. Instead, we have been 

 satisfied to make the most of possibilities in 

 a practical way. We have let competent 

 men, having good taste and good judgment, 

 plan the public work for us, and we have 

 been sensible enough not to interfere with 

 them or hamper them with unwise and un- 

 called for suggestions which we have in- 

 sisted on having adopted. Wherever and 

 whenever this is done there will be friction. 

 We have performed the work assigned us 

 by those whom we have chosen to take the 

 lead in an honest, hearty fashion, glad to do 

 it, because we felt that it was oi general as 

 well as personal benefit. It has stimulated 

 and strengthened our pride in the place we 

 live in. It has made us feel, as never before, 

 the mutuality of oar interests. 



But we are not so satisfied with what we 

 have done that we feel content to fold our 

 hands and rest on our laurels. We have 

 other improvements in view. Our society 

 seems to have become a permanent thing. 

 One improvement naturally leads to another, 

 and the work of a live Village Improvement 

 Society like ours is a process of general 

 ev^olution which may go on indefinitely.^ — 

 VicKs Monthly. 



Proper Locations for Lilac Bushes. — 

 The suckering character of common lilacs 

 should be borne in mind when deciding on 

 their location. A slender, neat little plant 

 this yea.r will be a large clump five years 

 hence, with a diameter at the base of per- 

 haps four feet, and with abundant capabili- 

 ties of future increase. 



Lilacs make effective screens — and especi- 

 ally in hedge form. Outbuildings are ren- 

 dered more sightly by their use, while, at 



the same time, the wealth of bloom furnishes 

 additional beauty to the scene and the very 

 best kind of cut flowers for house decora- 

 tions. This cutting of the flowers, by the 

 way, likewise acts as a desiiable prun- 

 ing. 



The " improved " named varieties of lilacs 

 are frequently grafted on privet roots, in 

 which case suckering does not occur unless 

 roots are finally sent out above the graft. 

 — Meehans Monthly. 



