Practical and Impractical Ideas from England— By wilhelm Miller, 



New 

 York 



WHAT WE REALLY PLANT 



70% European trees and shrubs and horticultu ral varieties 

 20% Chinese and Japanese 

 10% American 



WHAT WE OUGHT TO PLANT 



i.e. native to America 



70% American trees and shrubS; 

 20% Chinese and Japanese 

 10% European and horticultural 



"PVERYWHERE I find that people are 

 -'--' copying England more than ever. I 

 have seen it in the gardens as I have motored 

 about this summer, — direct copies of pic- 

 tures published last year in those twelve 

 articles entitled "English Effects." I see it 

 in the letters that come to me, for people 

 ask less about the rose-bug and more about 

 how to make better gardens, especially how 

 to copy some European effect. I hear it from 

 the seedsmen and nurserymen, particularly 

 the importers, who have had record-break- 

 ing businesses this year and last. I cannot 

 help noticing what an amount of advertising 

 is nov.' done in the horticultural magazines 

 by European firms. 



Of course, it would be absurd for me to 

 claim any great share in this movement, and 

 I have no desire to overstate the part played 

 by these magazines. The big fact which I 

 wish to bring out is that people are copying 

 England more than ever before. Now, this is 

 just what I have striven against in both 

 The Garden Magazine and Country Life 

 in America. I showed how we waste about 

 a milHon dollars a year in importing plants 

 that cannot possibly survive a long time in this 

 cHmate. And I showed that we can never 

 have an American style of gardening until we 

 plant more native material than European. 

 And yet people are buying more trees, shrubs, 

 and bulbs from Europe than ever before. 



I suppose I ought to be discouraged, but 

 I take comfort from a story Professor 

 Bailey used to tell, which ran somewhat 

 like this. "Once upon a time," he said, 

 "I monographed the Spitzenburg group of 

 apples. I took a lot of pains to find out the 

 true names and the synonyms and which 

 varieties were too much alike. When I 

 published these researches I thought people 

 would rise up and call me blessed for saving 

 them a lot of money. But I got only one 

 letter, and it was from a man who wanted to 

 know where he could buy every kind of 

 Spitzenburg there was, synonyms and all!" 



In other words, it is only human nature 

 to want the rare, costly, and difficult thing. 



Practical: — Growing daffodils like vnld flowers. Hardy, permanent, cheap. Plant now and they bloom every spring, multiplying without care (at Gravetye) 



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