THROUGH THE 



GARDEN GATE 



And, North and South and East and West 



The pride of every zone 



The fairest, rarest and the best 



May all be made our own. 



Whittier. 



Then and Now 

 What of the Out 

 look? 



I T 



l HE above verse is taken from 

 Whittier's Hymn to the Amer- 

 ican Horticultural Society. It was 

 written in 1882 when Americans were 

 just beginning to take a vital interest in gardening; were just 

 beginning to realize that they had time and money and, most 

 of all, the desire to garden finely as well as to build stately. 

 It expresses high aspirations, noble intentions. Since then 

 these have flowered into gardens from end to end of the land; 

 few estates but have, as a matter of course, fine gardens; 

 few suburban places but have an assemblage of flowers 

 personally tended, and these are often of rare and choice 

 varieties. Indeed it has seemed from certain gay signs and 

 portents observed in our towns and villages that even these 

 often depressing areas might be on the point of such a blossom- 

 ing as sets their English prototypes like jewels in the memory. 



All this has been good, for "flowers through their beautie, 

 varietieof colourand exquisite forme doe bring to a liberal and 

 gentelmanly mind the remembrance of honestie, comelieness 

 and all kinds of virtue," and it would seem that never before 

 has the world stood so in need of being "admonished and 

 stirred" to contemplation of these, perhaps, old-fashioned 

 qualities. But all this sort of thing is nothing to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. Its horny hand has struck roughly at 

 this fine general impetus toward something noble, and we 

 must face the possibility that the great expense attendant 

 upon raising plants in great quantity in this country is going 

 to put them out of the reach of any but the well-to-do, and 

 the dream of little jewelled villages where men's minds are 

 turned toward "honestie and comelieness" must remain a 

 happy reality only for our cousins across the sea. 



To-day 1 have been going over the fall bulb lists. What a 

 paucity in comparison with the riches that have in other 

 years been offered us! Astonishment and resentment grow 

 within me. Is it possible that our Government has taken 

 time from the momentous matters that now engage it to 

 forbid the importation of Snowdrops? Can it be that we are 

 no more to plan for spreads of azure Scillas and Snow Glories 

 beneath the white-clothed Magnolia trees? Shall knowledge 

 of the gorgeous exultant Crown Imperial pass with this gen- 

 eration and the Poor-man's-Orchid (Spanish Iris) be known 



sAutfior ojT'MpS'arcferfancf ''Co/far inMy&arcfer? M 



no more? Shall the spring for our children be less lovely 

 than it has been for us? 



I am no fighter, neither have I any but the most general 

 knowledge of things political, but I am strongly inclined to 

 cling to that hymn of Whittier's, to make it a battle song. 

 A wrong has been done us and that so swiftly and secretly 

 that we had no time to mass for effective resistance, nor even 

 to realize to the full its possibilities. The testimony of many 

 experts has been offered to prove that many ills will follow 

 in the wake of this drastic and ill-considered measure, and 

 while these facts are sinking in let us keep the fires of our just 

 wrath alight. Let us not sit down stolidly to endure this 

 calamity, but continue to dream of American gardens where 

 the pride of every zone, the fairest, rarest, and the best is 

 brought for their adornment. 



It is a brave man, or perhaps a foolish one, that sets "for 

 all time" against any of his earthly arrangements. Admin- 

 istrations pass and Department heads fade away, and there 

 are better fish in the sea than have yet come out of it. Let 

 us have something to say about the next catch. 



Plants that Get f)LANTS that will thrive in a 

 Along Without [ naturally dry soil or that will 

 Watering. endure long periods of drought with- 



out flinching are of especial importance 

 to American gardeners. Even where the soil is of a retentive 

 character, or where the garden is equipped with the means to 

 apply water freely, the unfailing summer droughts are a 

 severe trial and usually leave the garden looking worn and 

 exhausted. It is important, therefore, that we should know 

 which plants may be counted upon to maintain an appearance 

 of freshness and vigor under these trying conditions. 



The first that comes to my mind is the Chalk-plant, or 

 Baby's-breath (Gypsophila paniculata). The enormously 

 long tap root grown by this plant enables it to be quite inde- 

 pendent of surface moisture. The Chalk-plant appears en- 

 tirely unmindful of drought and indeed develops its fullest 

 beauty only in a dry, sunny situation. Thus situated a 

 single root will, in a few years, produce a delicate mass of 

 gray-green foliage several feet across and three feet tall, 

 which, when covered with tiny gray-white blossoms, is fresh 

 and cool enough in appearance to redeem the most drought- 

 ridden of July gardens. For the front of the border the small 

 prostrate Chalk-plant (Gypsophila repens) serves the same 

 purpose and continues blossoming for many weeks. 



The Sea Hollies and Globe Thistles (Eryngium and Echi- 

 nops) are also to be counted upon. They, too, have the strong 

 down-striking tap root which supplies them with refreshment. 



16 



