gO PACIFIC STATES FLORAL CONGRESS. 



But it takes money to plant and properly maintain such railroad 

 gardens, and here is where the shoe pinches. There are so many other 

 things, and I admit more necessary things, which go before the posies 

 in railway building and maintenance. 



To bring a railway garden to perfection the gardener should be 

 allowed a certain yearly fund to draw upon. Without the knowledge 

 and certainty of this, he can not work systematically nor intelligently. 

 With it he can lay his plans, grasp the best opportunities for culture, 

 for planting, for care and protection against insect and rodent enemies. 

 With it he can give foreordained character to his gardens, obliterate 

 the patchworky impression of a fundless groping in the dark. He can 

 do each thing in its right time, a most important condition for a gar- 

 dener. Large amounts are not absolutely needed. Nobody can do more 

 with a little money than a gardener, if he knows for sure, and in good 

 time, how much he has. It sometimes seems difficult for a railway man 

 to appreciate that there is a certain time for planting, a certain time 

 for pruning. It should not be forgotten that system is as important in 

 the garden as it is in the office, that implements are as much needed 

 there as are pen and ink in the office. The only difference is that you 

 have to battle with the whole of nature outside, while in the office the 

 sun shines not, nor does it rain on the godly nor the ungodly. 



There is one practical feature about railroad gardening I like to 

 speak about. All railroads own land lying vacant, uncultivated, un- 

 remunerative. These lands in great parts of California could be put 

 under very profitable forest culture. All railroads have a great use for 

 bridge material, for wharf piles, for poles, and wood. The eucalypti 

 produce these in good quantity and splendid quality in a short time. 

 I have been informed by bridge-builders of experience that the eucalypti 

 7nake the best piles in the world on account of their long resistance 

 against the inroads of the teredo. I believe a pile of better quality than 

 the one that now costs the railways $8.00 could be produced on such 

 lands as the railways in California possess, for the price of one dol- 

 lar, and within the limit of fifteen years. But this is a matter which 

 time does not permit me to speak of here to-day. 



Before I close I would like to tell you about a garden I passed 

 through the other day, which this year of abundant rain has clothed 

 with indescribable beauty. The Mojave Desert is now to-day, un- 

 hesitatingly I say it, the most beautiful garden in California. Over 

 its gray sands lies a carpet of flowers as richly colored as the 

 finest tapestry and far more delicate. There are the finest shades of 

 pink, of purple, of blue, of yellow, of creamy white, which only the 

 desert, with its burning heat, can produce in its tender, short-lived chil- 

 dren. And the concert of these colors is indescribably beautiful under 



