XIII 



ON FORMING A GARDEN 

 CLUB 



A COMMENT on the garden movement in 

 •^ ^ America has become nearly a platitude. The 

 evidences of deep and growing interest are on every 

 side. Often do I think of the satisfaction with 

 which the pioneers in American gardening would, 

 if they were living, look upon the fruits of their 

 labors — Downing, Ames, Berckmans, Buist, Ell- 

 wanger, Landreth, Vick — those devoted horticul- 

 turists whose work and whose writings in the early 

 days were surely the American sources of the pres- 

 ent almost feverish activities. The sentiment has 

 suddenly crystallized, so suddenly and with such 

 intensity that if it were not so delightful it would 

 be amusing. The ubiquitous Garden Club is here. 

 If all gardeners felt as I sometimes do — that, 

 used in connection with the charming art and pur- 

 suit upon which so many of us are bent in these 

 latter days, the word "organize" has almost the 



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