BRIGHT-BERRIED GROWTH 



is so much to be desired. Is it not a fact that in 

 certain suburbs of Chicago, for example, the over- 

 use of the barberry is noticeable? The same 

 holds true in certain suburbs of Boston. A fine 

 thing done to death is a pity — and this condition 

 usually obtains because of a lack of observation 

 on the part of property-owners. 



To some of my more sedate or settled readers 

 it may seem odd that I should so often dwell upon 

 the newer varieties of flower and shrub, and par- 

 ticularly of shrub. "How," they may cry, "and 

 why should people of middle age concern them- 

 selves with the planting of that which they can 

 scarcely hope to see in its full maturity.''" And 

 this question indeed has been discussed lately in 

 the columns of certain journals devoted to gar- 

 dening and the larger forms of horticulture. "In 

 my own experience," says one writer — "and I 

 meet a good many keen gardeners — I find that 

 the longer a man has been interested in gardening, 

 the more his attention centres around trees and 

 shrubs." On speaking of this to one of the best- 

 informed horticultural men I have ever met, he 

 said that this was undoubtedly the case. For, 

 as one grows older and keenness diminishes for 

 other forms of active exercise, so does one's inter- 



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