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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST, 



to general matters, we will have a magazine 

 that will compete with any of its kind pub- 

 lished on the other side of the border line. 



It was my privilege on the 13th of Febru- 

 ary to attend a meeting in the Board of 

 Trade building, Toronto, called for the pur- 

 pose of organizing a branch of the Ameri- 

 can Civic Improvement League. From the 

 language of the circular sent out calling that 

 meeting, I was somewhat curious to know 

 what attitude the proposed organization in- 

 tended to assume toward our horticultural 

 societies and the excellent work they are do- 

 ing throughout the province. I was pleased 

 to meet there a considerable number of hor- 

 ticultural workers, who like myself were 

 ready to co-operate with any organization 

 whose aim and purpose was the purifying 

 and beautifying of the cities, towns and rural 

 homes of this land of ours, but who, like my- 

 self, were in a maze of curiosity for the same 

 reason referred to above. The atmosphere 

 was soon cleared, however, by a very gen- 

 eral repudiation of the language of the cir- 

 cular in question, and this at once opened 

 the way to a happy blending and natural co- 

 operation of the apparently threatening ele- 

 ments. The meeting proved one of mutual 

 profit, and the illustrated lecture in the even- 

 ing a great stimulus to every worker along 

 the line of civic improvement, and I hope 

 the Horticulturist will give the new organi- 

 zation — more fully referred to elsewhere in 

 this number — all the support and encourage- 

 ment that its aims and objects deserve. 



But because of the new organization we 

 should not relax our efforts in connection 

 with our horticultural work now being done 

 by our affiliated horticultural societies. They 

 have been doing the very work mapped out 

 by the new organization for years, and are 

 doing it better to-day than it has ever been 

 done before. They are in fact doing a 



greater work than is mapped out by the new 

 organization, for they are reaching out into 

 the rural districts and touching the farm 

 home as well as the towns and cities. Un- 

 der the auspices of the Minister of Agricul- 

 ture, and the able and energetic manage- 

 ment of our secretary, Mr. G. C. Creelman, 

 they promise this year and onward to do bet- 

 ter and greater work than they have yet 

 done, and at best the new organization can 

 only be a helplul auxiliary, whose field will 

 be principally confined to the cities and 

 larger towns. 



In response to the lesson of the annual 

 meeting at Cobourg over a year ago, a great 

 push forward was made by our secretary 

 last year in dividing the meeting at Walker- 

 ton into two departments, and the horticul- 

 tural department proved the greater attrac- 

 tion of the two. This further lesson has 

 suggested the advisability of a special hor- 

 ticultural meeting in Toronto next fall, after 

 the proposed annual meeting at Leaming- 

 ton, to which representatives from all our 

 affiliated societies will be invited ; and now I 

 would suggest, representatives also from the 

 Civic Improvement Leagues. This, how- 

 ever, is a matter of more mature considera- 

 tion and one which may safely be left in the 

 hands of our energetic secretary and man- 

 ager. In the meantime our only course and 

 plain duty is to push our work ahead, and I 

 think the Minister of Agriculture on the one 

 hand and our affiliated societies on the other 

 will sustain our secretary in going on with 

 the work he took in charge only so short a 

 time ago, and which has made such gratify- 

 ing progress under his management. With 

 the new Civic Improvement League as a 

 helpful auxiliary, our societies should go 

 into the splendid work they have been doing 

 in the past with greater vigor than ever. 



