354 



The Garden Magazine, February, 1922 



A COMPREHENSIVE 

 DIGEST OF 

 HORTICULTURE 



The 



Gardeners' 



Chronicle 



Has been well described by one 

 of its readers in the following 

 letter: 



"I have for a long time wanted a broad, comprehensive 

 digest of horticulture in general and truly imagine that 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle will fill the bill. I have the 



honor of being president of the Garden Club." 



— Mrs. W. L. C, Lexington, Ky. 



The Literary Digest of the 

 gardening world 



This beautifully illustrated monthly 

 magazine selects from all gardening 

 publications the world over the most 

 practical and helpful information for 

 the garden lovers in America. It also 

 contains each month several timely 

 articles by leaders in horticultural 

 thought. Thus it at once furnishes a 

 digest of the latest information on the 

 subject and is authentic and practical. 



"I am not a gardener, but employ two, and subscribe 

 to your paper. Always find something instructive and 

 interesting in it. Your selecting articles from other 

 papers is a good idea, for then your readers seldom miss a 

 good thing."— W. C. E., Highland Park, III. 



It interprets the new tendencies, 

 points out the new creations of flower 

 and plant life, talks on landscape de- 

 signs and has very interesting depart- 

 ments bound to be of immense assistance 

 to either the beginner or the advanced 

 garden lover. 



"I think the last number of the Chronicle is excellent 

 and I am recommending it to everyone as being the best 

 purely gardening paper." — Miss H. L., New York City. 



Its "Questions and Answers" depart- 

 ment is conducted with both clearness 

 of advice and authority. Subscribers 

 are privileged to submit their garden 

 problems for help from the staff of 

 contributors. 



"The two issues of the Gardeners' Chronicle I have 

 read very carefully, and I came to the conclusion that the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle is just the thing an amateur will 

 both enjoy and appreciate." — A. S. S., Detroit, Mich. 



SUBSCRIPTION PRICE $2.00 A YEAR. Send 

 $2.00 now and your subscription will begin with 

 the January issue. Canadian Subscription $2.15. 



The 



Gardeners' Chronicle 



of America 



(Now in its 25th volume) 



286 Fifth Avenue 



New York 



THE TRUTH ABOUT A GARDEN 



AFTER a day with the hoe, one is tempted 

 to wonder whether the poets who warble 

 so deliciously about gardens ever did more than 

 sit in the shade and enjoy the view. 



Cowper, of course, has left proof that he under- 

 stood as well as loved a garden. In the "Task" 

 he shows surprising familiarity with the techni- 

 que of gardening, not forgetting "the stercora- 

 ceous heap." This may be foreign to poetry, 

 but proves that Cowper was such a lover of the 

 soil and its mysteries that in his eyes the ma- 

 nuring of the land was a necessary part of his 

 description. Moreover, he knew the importance 

 of the master's taste and direction: 



/'Strength may wield the ponderous spade, 

 May turn the clod, and wheel the compost home, 

 But elegance, chief grace the garden shows, 

 And most attractive, is the fair result 

 Of thought, the creature of a polished mind." 



He lived in that golden age for country gentle- 

 men when labor was cheap and abundant. His 

 part was skill rather than force. That is where he 

 had the advantage over most of us who hanker 

 for a garden to-day. Perforce we must use brain 

 and muscle too. 



The truth is that a garden is a tyrant second to 

 none. The arm chair enthusiast in the spring 

 with his gorgeous seed catalogues sees before him 

 a fairy garden beautiful as Eden. Prosaic de- 

 tails confront him at the outset. The bounte- 

 ous earth, he learns, has produced crops for so 

 many aeons that it must have manure as a 

 tonic. No tickling of the soil will make it smile 

 in harvest. Moreover, he finds that though all 

 manure may look alike to city folk, there are 

 degrees of lushness known only to the experi- 

 enced. When he goes forth in quest of what has 

 hitherto seemed to him a most distasteful object, 

 he is amazed to discover that the gardener's 

 point of view is so different. To the worker 

 in the earth, manure is the summum bonum, 

 the pearl of great price, which he eagerly searches 

 for in barnyards far and wide. The supply 

 is cornered before the amateur gets a load. 

 No secret society guards its password more 

 jealously than the most ancient craft of all- 

 gardening. The stranger will be taken in and 

 laughed at. To him will be delivered straw and 

 rubbish, as useless as offensive. 



With backaches vaster than ever imaginable, 

 he finally gets his rows planted. The difficulties 

 of keeping straight were never so great. A line, 

 such as he has seen used, develops the queerest 

 kinks before he reaches the end of the row. He 

 flatters himself that when the plants are well 

 grown his wobblings will be concealed. Later 

 the conviction is forced upon him that time only 

 accentuates his blunders. The Gladiolus persist 

 in following the set given them at the start, pro- 

 claiming the beginner by their refusal to stand in 

 line. The planting at last accomplished, he is 

 tempted to sit back and leave the rest to Nature. 

 But that implacable old dame plays no favorites. 

 Pig-weeds race with the Poppies to see which will 

 get a foothold first. The repentant planter toils 

 feverishly after them. Those few hot nights 

 when he rested did the mischief. He realizes 

 that the story of Jack and the Beanstalk is no 

 exaggeration. In his excitement he grabs the 

 weeds only to find that the young Onions have 



(Continued on j>age 357) 



Trees and Plants Alive with 

 Vitality, Color and Beauty 



Ideal soil and climatic conditions, the utmost care 

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When you buy B. F. Barr & Company trees and 

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In addition there is a Landscape Architectural 

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Send for the new B. F. Barr & Co., catalogue 



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Harris Seeds 



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Their quality is the result of years of improvement 

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The Harris' 1922 Catalogue is loaded with valuable 

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^Drawer K Cold water, N.Y. 



The Glen Road Iris Gardens 



Grace Sturtevant, Prop. 



Wellesley Farms, Massachusetts 



GROWERS AND ORIGINATORS OF FINE VARI- 

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Ask {or complete descriptive catalogue 

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BR00KLAND GARDENS, Woburn, Mass. 



