APPENDIX 



sonable topic, the club studying, besides, plants, fertilizers, 

 insecticides, fungi, birds, bees, and moths, quality of soils, 

 climate, and so on, care of house-plants, trees, and shrubs. 

 The club has visited the gardens of Mount Vernon, Hampton 

 near Baltimore, Princeton, Trenton, and many gardens at 

 Bar Harbor. Specialists on horticultural subjects have 

 from time to time addressed them. In the club's library are 

 more than one hundred papers prepared by members. Their 

 activities extend beyond their own limits in several direc- 

 tions, notably toward the movement made by the Society 

 for the Protection of Native Plants. 



Now, as to the age of the garden clubs other than the 

 Philadelphia I am not informed. In the following mention 

 of them, therefore, I shall not undertake to give any one 

 club precedence, but shall first take up the Garden Club 

 of Ann Arbor, Michigan, because of its liberal use of the 

 letter A ! This club is unique in its ultrademocratic policy. 

 Whereas the Garden Club of Cleveland, in two gentle sen- 

 tences of its rules and regulations, remarks that "eligibility 

 to membership in this club is limited to: A. Those who are 

 fortunate possessors of gardens of unusual perfection. B. 

 Those who plan and develop personally and enthusiastically 

 gardens of their own design" — the Garden Club of Ann 

 Arbor declares that only he or she shall enter their ranks 

 who is possessed of "an active personal enthusiasm and 

 working interest in one's garden," and follows this with the 

 rigid exclusion of all others in this explicit language: "Only 

 amateurs doing individual practical work in their own gar- 

 dens or yards are eligible for active membership in the club." 

 An interesting question here presents itself. Were this a 

 discursive article, I should be tempted to set forth my rea- 

 sons for believing that the Cleveland Club has the best of it ! 



273 



