156 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



December, 1915 



An old garden has always been held the peculiar 

 province of poets and lovers of romance. Yet the 

 case works conversely. For whatever of poetry and 

 romance there is in a man, an old garden brings out 

 and awakens. Something remains there, intangible 

 yet definite, of the beauty and charm of the human 

 life, of which the garden was once a part. The 

 house, long unused, may feel dead and sombre; 

 but in the garden the spirit of it all lingers, the be- 

 lief in loveliness of which the garden was itself an 

 expression — still haunts the neglected borders and 

 overgrown shrubbery. The appeal of the tiny 

 violets and the fragrant roses is as fresh and poig- 

 nant as it was a half century before, when their 

 first blossoming was awaited eagerly by lovers now 

 long in their graves. It is the imperishableness of 

 this earthly loveliness, fragile as it seems, that 

 brings to life a dormant belief in another loveli- 

 ness; the transitory and perishable and fleeting be- 

 come suddenly the eternal and immortal — all, in 

 fact, that matters. 



It was not strange therefore, that Paul Fielding 

 and Roberta felt this garden charm. The late 

 afternoon sunshine fell along the magnolia walk, 

 touching and waking to vividness the straggling 

 myrtle at the foot of the wall of glossy green, tiny 



pansies long gone back to wild, a spray of the honey- 

 suckle that was creeping into the magnolia branches 

 — all remnants of the old border. The fragrance of 

 the honeysuckle came to them. Roberta stopped 

 and bent to pick a tiny pansy; when she stood up 

 Paul was facing her. Neither knew how it hap- 

 pened. The old oaks knew, perhaps, the silent, 

 vivid wall of magnolia may have seen something of 

 the sort before; but his hands held her, his arms 

 were around her and they kissed there in the silence 

 of the old garden. 



"I did not mean to do that!" said Roberta, a few 

 moments later. "It must have been the Garden!" 



"Then let's stay in the garden," said Paul Field- 

 ing joyously. "But Roberta — suppose my garden 

 doesn't grow?" 



"Then we'll have to plant it again," said she. 



It was spring again at Roseberry Gardens, early 

 March, and Maurice Herford was at his old place 

 beside Michael's work bench. 



"'Tis true," said Michael in answer to the un- 

 spoken question in the other's eyes." "'Tis true 

 that the girl has promised herself to a lad that can't 

 tell an Ibota privet from a media! And after all 

 the pains I took wid her education!" 



"He'll learn," suggested Maurice Herford. 



"He'll not! I know him! 'Tis a shame!" 



"He has youth, Michael!" said Maurice Herford. 



"So has a Carolina poplar," retorted Michael 

 indignantly, "and who wants it but a real estate 

 agent! But I did me best!" 



"I know you did, but I had no chance, anyway." 



"You had chance afther chance," said Michael 

 pityingly, "but ye didn' see thim! It's like one av 

 those merry-go-rounds they have in the par-rks. 

 There's a ring ye can pick off an' if ye do, 'tis another 

 ride; but while ye're thin kin' just how to do it — ■ 

 whisth! Ye've gone by and another lad has it! 

 'Tis not the cleverest nor the foinest, but the wan 

 that grabs at just the right time! 



"Indeed, Mr. Herford, plants are betther than 

 people. Set out a foine plant and ye have it, care 

 f'r it well and it's there to smile at you the rest av 

 y'r life. It's not off wid the fir-rst green lad av a 

 buddin' gardener!" 



Then he got up, brushed the soil from his fingers, 

 rubbed them clean with his apron, settled his red 

 neckerchief and turned and beamed on his com- 

 panion. "What's a gur-rl, anyway?" said he 

 blithely. "Come out and see me new azalea!" 

 The End 



-^COMING EVENTS^- Q 



LUB ^SOCIETY NEW0 



MEETINGS AND EXHIBITIONS IN DECEMBER 



i. 



1-3. 

 2. 

 3. 

 6. 

 7. 



Short Hills, N. J., Garden Club: meeting. 

 So. Iowa Horticultural Society, Atlantic, Iowa. :meeting. 

 Marshfield, Mass., Garden Club: meeting. 

 Pasadena, Cal., Horticultural Society: meeting. 

 New Bedford, Mass., Horticultural Society: meeting. 

 Lake Geneva, Wis., Gardeners' and Foremen's Associa- 

 tion: meeting. 

 School of Horticulture, Ambler, Penn. : illustrated lecture 



"Gardens," Mrs. J. C. Bright. 

 Michigan Hort. Soc, Grand Rapids, Mich.: meeting. 

 7-10. Arkansas Hort. Soc, Fort Smith, Arkansas,: meeting. 

 8. Nassau County Horticultural Society, Glen Cove, L. I.: 

 meeting. 



8. 



'For- 



7-9. 



THE greatest source of attraction at the recent 

 show of the Horticultural Society of New York 

 (Nov. 4-7) was, unquestionably, the splendid 

 trained plants from Mr. A. Lewisohn. For the last 

 few years his skillful gardener, Mr. Corning, has 

 been showing larger and larger plants culminating 



Shedowa Garden Club, Garden City, L. I.: lecture, 

 mal Garden Styles," W. E. Bliz-Zard. 

 8-9. Western Association of Nursurymen, Kansas City, Mo.: 

 meeting. 

 Short Hills, N. J., Garden Club: meeting. 



10. Connecticut Hort. Soc, Hartford, Conn.: meeting. 

 Central New York Horticultural Society, New Hartford, 



N. Y.: meeting. 



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

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



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

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

 Germantown, Pa., Horticultural Society: exhibition. 



in this year's effort, 17 feet in diameter and splen- 

 didfy flowered. This plant is the largest possible 

 for show at the Museum of Natural History, neces- 

 sitating the entire removal of the door frame, etc. 

 and special traffic arrangements had to be made for 

 the journey through the city. Fully a hundred 



"Roses,"* 



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



14. School of Horticulture, Ambler, Penn.: lecture, 



Miss Anne Dorrance. 



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

 Short Hills, N. J., Garden Club: meeting. 



16. Marshfield, Mass., Garden Club: meeting. 



17. Pasadena, Cal., Horticultural Society: meeting. 



21. Lake Geneva, Wis., Gardeners' & Foremen's Association: 



meeting. 



22. Short Hills, N. J., Garden Club: meeting. 

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



29. Short Hills, N. J., Garden Club: meeting. 



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



thousand visitors came to see the exhibition during 

 the four days, something that a few years ago could 

 not have been accomplished in New York City. 

 For developing this present acute interest the Hor- 

 ticultural Society of New York deserves much credit, 

 and the interest is significant. 



The largest specimen trained Chrysanthemum plant ever seen at a New York show at the exhibition of the Horticultural Society of New York. 



The variety is R. F. Felton, color yellow 



From the garden of Mr. A. Lewisohn. 



