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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIS2. 



Fig 2554. An Improved City Back Yard. 



Mr. R. Tasker Steele, President of the 

 Civic Improvement Society at Hamilton, 

 gave an interesting account of the work 

 which had been accomplished at Hamilton 

 in co-operation with the Hamilton Horticul- 

 tural Society. The work had been inau- 

 gurated in Hamilton about four years ago, 

 and already much had been done toward 

 beautifying the city. Not much money was 

 needed to promote their objects, for the 

 work was done principally by creating pub- 

 lic sentiment in favor of certain improve- 

 ments, and thus stimulating the municipal 

 authorities to undertake the work. Such 

 work, whether inspired by a civic improve- 

 ment society, a horticultural society, or a 

 society club, makes better citizens, raises the 

 moral tone of a town, and eventually results 

 in enhancing the values of real estate. In 

 Hamilton they had succeeded in having 

 many improvements, such as alleyways bet- 

 ter looked after, streets more systematically 

 cleaned, vacant lots cleared up and made 

 more sightly, waste paper barrels distributed 

 and collected, wire baskets for waste set 

 about in the parks, and generally they had 

 stirred up a general interest in all measures 



conducive to both sanitation and civic 

 beauty. He outUned many Hues of work 

 which might well be undertaken, such as 

 the planting of shrubbery and vines along 

 the vacant sides of factory buildings, the re- 

 moval of the ugly bill boards from places 

 where they obstructed attractive views, the 

 im.provement of our cemeteries, and the 

 stimulating of the members of church and 

 school boards to the decoration of their pre- 

 mises, which are in many cases sadly ne- 

 glected. He advised that no society under- 

 take too many things at once, but rather to 

 address themselves to one object at a time, 

 and having accomplished that to undertake 

 another. It was not, in Mr. Steele's opin- 

 ion, at all necessary to have a large club or 

 society to do this work. In Hamilton the 

 working comrhittee consisted of only about 

 eight or ten men, but they were well chosen, 

 and they were busy men too — lawyers, doc- 

 tors, clergymen and business men — but these 

 men always found time to attend a meeting 

 when called. 





Some discussion took place as to whether 

 this society should become a branch of he 



