GARDEXIXG AFTER THE WAR. 

 By Leonard Barron, Garden City, New York. 



Delivered before the Society, February 1, 1919. 



Does anyone believe that the war time reaction on our garden- 

 ing will be other than constructive? That is the problem before 

 us. 



The war itself marks a convenient period from which we may 

 review the past and measure the future. The general conditions 

 to be considered may not have been entirely brought about by 

 what was officially called the "existing emergency," but it has had 

 the effect of drawing the threads together so that we have been 

 able to realize the crystallizing into concerted action, and horti- 

 culturally as in other affairs we shall be able to measure things as 

 "before the war" and "after the war." 



Everybody, every man and woman of us, has as the uppermost 

 question in mind at this time : What is going to happen to business . 

 now; particularly, what is going to happen to his or her own 

 particular interest. When war broke upon us with its consequent 

 cessation of ordinary interests we were shocked, startled; and the 

 first feeling was an outlook into untold calamity. Our gardening 

 stopped. As time went on things seemed to get worse and the 

 climax was brought about by the various rulings of the W^ar Indus- 

 tries Board and the Fuel Administration; with the restricted 

 supplies and the draft on labor the outlook was none too rosy. 

 But things have changed, and with the coming of peace, there is a 

 general feeling of optimism openly expressed in all industries, an 

 optimism in which the horticulture of the country seems destined 

 to share in its proportion. 



Gardening touches the life of the people in two phases, which we 

 may call the essential and the non-essential. In the first case 

 comes the whole cjuestion of the raising of food crops, fruits, and 

 vegetables. In the second, the more delightful refinements of 



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