ORNAMENTAL GARDENS AND GARDEN MATERIALS. 

 By Prof. E. A. White, Ajmherst, Mass. 



Delivered before the Society with stereopticon illustrations, January 



23, 1909. 



The development of ornamental gardening folloAvs stejD by step 

 the increasing wealth and prosperity of a nation. Our early colon- 

 ists spent little time in home ornamentation. They were too busily 

 engaged in establishing the home, and in procuring the necessities 

 of life, to devote themselves to these things, but with the increasing 

 prosperity which has followed our American people since the 

 Revolutionary War, and more especially since the Civil War, 

 interest in gardening has steadily increased until the present period 

 shows great enthusiasm in all lines of ornamental work. 



One of the most pleasing features of this subject is the interest 

 manifested by all classes of people ; the wealthy man in the develop- 

 ment of his large estate with its extensive lawns and elaborate formal 

 gardens; the so-called middle class, the business man, who owns 

 his suburban home, and with it a quarter or half-acre of lawn; 

 the workingman with his backyard plot; and we must not exclude 

 the tenement dweller with the geranium in an old tin can. Plant 

 life in some form appeals to all classes of individuals. 



Not everyone can afford extensive and elaborate formal gardens, 

 and although natural beauties are abimdantly at hand, still there 

 is a deplorable lack of attractiveness about too many of our homes. 

 This is especially true in the rural sections and not wholly to be 

 wondered at. There are factors which bring this about. The 

 man employed in the store or the shop has his definite hours of 

 labor. Often he is through work in summer at five o'clock, or is 

 free on one afternoon in the week, and he spends these spare hours 

 working about his home, caring for the kitchen garden, or for the 

 trees, shrubs, vines and the flower garden. The average farmer is 



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