60 1\IASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



before. The high wages that labor has enjoyed, and seems Hkely 

 to enjoy for some time to come, means increased purchasing power 

 of a greater nmnber of people and in the ultimate a demand for 

 higher standards of living 'with improved home surroundings. 



The newcomers into this class may be counted upon to fall in 

 line with the established standard. Is it not reasonable to expect 

 that thousands of people who have enjoyed the results of their 

 labors, and have come to know what independence of the green- 

 grocer means will never again willingly submit to the older condi- 

 tions? It may be that one beneficial reaction of the war will be a 

 new conception of the suburban home life. 



The change that is upon us will probably not occur in the great 

 estates so much as in the average small holding; for there it is, 

 indeed, that the awakening has come. The large estate has indeed 

 suffered. Development of many private places has stopped. Not 

 only has the withdrawal of man power interfered with their upkeep, 

 but the demand of war time finance and a heavy income tax have 

 curtailed the operations of their owners. 



The increase of country living that has been going on so rapidly 

 for the past 25 years had prepared the ground, had laid the founda- 

 tion for the favorable reception of the garden impetus. 



Woman as a New Factor. 



One nurser;yTnan of my acquaintance, referring to his own busi- 

 ness, points out that the individual owners have been, during that 

 period, showing a greater and increasing interest in their home 

 surroundings, and he says the biggest factor is the women. 

 Twenty-five years ago there was onl^^ one lady who came to his 

 nursery to look at new plants; now more than half the checks 

 passing through his office are signed by the women. They are 

 running country places, large and small, and they are doing it 

 sometimes to the discomfiture of the old time gardener. 



The inauguration of the Women's Land Army is significant in this 

 connection; in all the warring countries women have assumed their 

 share of responsibility and labor. It is no small thing that the 

 Women's Land Army of America stepped into the breach to supply 

 labor for the farms, and did it successfully. 



