Meetings and Exhibitions in September 



1. Warrenton, W. Va., Garden Club: meeting. 



1-3. American Pomological Society, San Francisco, Calif.: 

 meeting. 



2. Worcester County Horticultural Society, Worcester, 



Mass.: exhibit. 

 Garden Club of Lawrence, L. I.: exhibition and lecture, 

 "Fall Work in Garden," Maurice Fuld. 



3. Pasadena Horticultural Society, Pasadena, Calif.: 



meeting. 



4. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, N. Y.: 



lecture, "Possibilities of Nut Growing in New York," 

 Dr. W. C. Deming. 



7. Lake Geneva, Wis., Gardeners' and Foremen's Asso- 



ciation: meeting. 



8. Nassau County Horticultural Society, Glen Cove, 



N. Y. : meeting. 



8. 9. Montreal, Canada, Horticultural Society: annual 



exhibition. 



9. Worcester County Horticultural Society, Worcester, 



Mass.: exhibit. 



10. Greenwich, Conn., Garden Club: meeting. 



10. Connecticut Horticultural Society, Hartford, Conn.: 



regular meeting. 



11. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, N.Y .lecture, 



"Use of Mushrooms for Food," Dr. W. A. Murrill. 



Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., Horticultural Association: meeting. 



11, 12. Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Boston, Mass.: 



dahlia and fruit exhibit. 

 13. Germantown, Penna., Horticultural Society: ex- 



hibition. 

 Garden Club of New Rochelle, N. Y.: meeting. 

 Rochester, N. Y. Florists' Association: meeting. 

 New York Florists' Club, New York City: meeting. 

 Park Garden Club, Flushing, L. I.: meeting. 

 13-18. New York State Fair, Syracuse, N. Y. 



15. Tarrytown, N. Y., Horticultural Society: meeting. 

 Warrenton, W. Va., Garden Club: meeting. 



16. Worcester County Horticultural Society, Worcester, 



Mass.: exhibit. 

 Garden Club of Lawrence, L. I.: dahlia exhibit. 

 16, 17. Rhode Island Horticultural Society, Providence, R. I.: 

 exhibit. 



17. Pasadena, Calif., Horticultuial Society: meeting. 



18. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Prrk, N. Y.: lec- 



ture, "Flowers That Should be Planted in the Fall," 

 Mr. G. V. Nash. 



22, 23. Connecticut Horticultural Society, Hartford, Conn.: 



annual dahlia exhibit. 



23. Worcester County Horticultural Society, Worcester, 



Mass.: exhibit. 



23-25. Northwestern Dahlia Society, Portland, Ore.: show. 



24-26. American Dahlia Society, in conjunction with the 

 Horticultural Society of New York, Museum Na- 

 tural History, New York: dahlia show. 



25. DobbsFerry, N. Y.,HorticulturalAssociation:meeting. 



N. Y. Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, N. Y.: lecture. 



"Some Economic Uses and Possibilities of Seaweeds," 



Dr. M. A. Howe. 



Garden Club of Chester Valley, Downington, Pa.: 



flower show. 



27. Park Garden Club, Flushing, L. I.: dahlia show. 



29, 30. Short Hills, N. J., Garden Club: dahlia show. 



A Garden Club in a University Town 



THE birth of garden clubs throughout the coun- 

 try during the last several years may indicate 

 that American gardening is in the fashionable 

 stage, and the formation of such clubs one of the 

 many fads that perennially attack us; or, what is 

 better to believe, that, here and there, throughout 

 the land there are developing the germs of that 

 communal love for gardening that has so long dis- 

 tinguished England and the English people, and 

 has made England the most beautiful home-country 

 upon the earth. I prefer to believe the latter, be- 

 cause I do know of garden clubs that are not society 

 functions, but are made up of genuine garden 

 lovers, whose gardens are largely or wholly home- 

 made. 



If America is ever to find itself, so far as garden- 

 ing is concerned, it is not going to be through the 

 formation of large estates and gardens planned by 

 landscape architects and gardeners, but it will be 

 through the development of the home-garden born 

 out of the individual tastes and desires of the 

 average citizen. As all of England is one great 

 garden, so all of America must become one great 

 composite garden, the units of which are individual 

 home-gardens. Inherent love and taste for the 

 garden are the only criteria needed for this demo- 

 cratic ideal; money and fashion can not set the 

 standard here, or the progress of the republic to- 

 ward the realization of an ideal of national beauty 

 as great as that of England will be hindered. Wil- 

 helm Miller has attempted to analyze the beauty of 

 the English landscape, and I am sure that he is 

 right when he concludes that its charm lies, not 

 in the individual characteristics of the houses, 

 plants or trees, but in the fact that every cottage has 

 a garden of its own, the whole country is one great 

 garden. 



Therefore, if we love our country and hope that 

 its landscape may in time become as beautiful as 

 that of England, our efforts should be put forth in 

 the direction of inculcating in the mass of our people 

 a genuine love for plants and flowers, and their 

 culture in the small home-gardens, which alone are 

 possible to the average American citizen. It is 

 through the men and women who cannot afford to 

 have a large garden and a gardener, but who must 

 do their gardening for themselves, that the question 

 as to whether America is going to be beautiful or 

 ugly will be finally solved. 



One may go from village to village in any state 

 and see nothing at all in the shape of a garden, or 

 at most only the inevitable patch of exposed lawn 

 dotted aimlessly with coleus, geraniums, cannas, 

 hydrangeas and salvia, without reason or taste. 

 Nothing can be more forlorn than the average small 

 town and village of the greater part of the United 

 States: and one cannot go into such a village with- 

 out thinking that it is no wonder that the young 

 people leave home as soon as they can, so deadly 

 are their surroundings. 



An interest in growing things should be instilled 

 into our school children; a love of flowers once 

 aroused in childhood or youth is never lost and is 

 always a source of happiness in after-life. One 

 garden of good taste in a community may have a 

 tremendous influence upon local conditions. What 

 is needed in every community is a garden club that 

 shall have for its object the stimulation of a demo- 

 cratic love of gardening that ultimately shall be of 

 service to the entire community. With such ideals 

 the "Ann Arbor Garden Club" was formed in ioio 

 and fully organized in 1912. Its motto "Hor- 

 torum cidtu delectari" expresses its main criterion 

 of membership in the endeavor to make it an effec- 

 tive and useful club. Garden worker as well as Garden 

 lover is the standard of eligibility to membership. 

 The membership has been restricted to twenty- 

 five family units, but each unit may have as many 

 representatives as are eligible under the general rule. 

 The membership is now fifty, about the working 

 limits for any club that wishes to be effective. 

 Men and women are equally eligible, and nearly 

 half are men. There is a large waiting list from 

 which elections to full membership will be made as 

 vacancies occur. The "objects of the club shall be 

 the development of an interest in the individual 

 home-garden, the formation and improvement of 

 such gardens, the exchange of garden experiences, 

 the trying-out of new plants, the accumulation of 

 experiences concerning plants best adapted to the 

 Michigan climate, the study of local color in trees 

 and shrubs, the conservation of native flora, and the 

 development of city parks." 



The working machinery of the club is very simple. 

 There is only a president and a secretary, and a 

 committee on memberships. There are no fees, 

 expenses are divided pro rata as they arise. Meet- 

 ings are held in the gardens of members of the club 

 during the garden season. Members are requested 

 to report to the secretary concerning the times when 

 especial features of their gardens can be seen to the 

 best advantage. Members growing new plants 

 also make report as to the best time when these can 

 be seen. Called meetings are held during the win- 

 ter season for the consideration of catalogues, gar- 

 den literature, or for addresses given upon garden 

 topics by such experts as can be secured. The 

 University possesses a botanical garden, a plant- 

 breeding experimental garden, and experts in these 

 lines, so that the club has unusual advantages for 

 obtaining information. 



The town of Ann Arbor is in many respects 

 different from the average town of its size. The 

 University of Michigan with its five thousand and 

 more students and its large faculty body constitutes 

 the centre around which everything else in the place 

 revolves. It is a residence and University town 

 purely, with almost no manufacturing or com- 

 mercial interests aside from those more or less 

 directly connected with the University. The social 

 conditions of the town are well-nigh ideal. There is 

 no rich or smart set as in the commercial town; 



50 



money counts for little, everyone knows everybody- 

 else's bank account, and people are rated for their 

 degree of being interesting, or what they do, rather 

 than for any income they may have. Home-life 

 is the chief foundation of this community, and in it 

 the home reaches its fullest development. The 

 great desire of nearly every-one here is for a home 

 of one's own. Perhaps the character of the com- 

 munity is best revealed in the description of us 

 given by a representative of an eastern university 

 who visited us recently. Said he, "At home we 

 talk chiefly of dinner and going abroad; here you 

 talk of houses and gardens and babies." No more 

 complimentary remark could have been given. 



In this community of homes, houses and house- 

 building are matters of most vital interest, and 

 "building" as great an experience of life as getting 

 married. The "new house" is one of the most 

 notable mile-stones of life. The care and develop- 

 ment of the home-grounds has, therefore, always 

 been a matter of great interest, but has been largely 

 restricted to the planting of trees and shrubs and 

 the care of lawns. The development of the garden 

 as an especial feature has been less frequently taken 

 up, although the town has a number of old gardens 

 more than fifty years old. In recent years, how- 

 ever, garden interest has greatly increased, and 

 gardens as distinct features of the home, formal or 

 otherwise, have been developed. This is the com- 

 munity in which the Ann Arbor Garden Club be- 

 longs, a club democratic in ideals, representing 

 both town and gown, in individuals who having 

 perhaps a little more garden-interest than others 

 have developed home-gardens. 



Aldred Scott Warthin. 



Sweet Pea Show at Newport 



IT IS just six years since the American Sweet 

 Pea Society was organized and its stated ob- 

 jects were to encourage the cultivation and im- 

 provement of the sweet pea, by exhibition, field 

 tests, conferences, or in any other way the Society 

 should determine. In connection with the meeting 

 for organization held in the American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York, was an exhibition of 

 sweet peas which in its scope was remarkable both 

 for display and quality of flowers. The flowers 

 shown were very largely of the old grandiflora, or 

 hooded, varieties with the Spencer, or open type, 

 an attraction only so far as concerned the build 

 of the flowers. 



At Newport, R. I., on July 15 and 16, the Society 

 held its seventh annual exhibition and meeting. 

 The classes were well filled and the competition for 

 prizes very keen. What struck one who had at- 

 tended all the exhibitions was the remarkable 

 quality of the flowers. 



The claim that in England alone can be seen the 

 sweet pea in its perfection is now challenged. In 

 the opinion of sweet pea specialists who saw the 

 English sweet pea displays last year, the American 



