eh Garden 
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f ain BD i iv I Ue 
in Yo Un 
Town 
S IT a success? If so, the Garden Competition Editor of AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS wants to know about 
it—he will pay $200 in prizes for the best-planted, developed and most successful suburban or village gardens. Write 
to the Garden Competition Editor and tell him how you planted your garden and what success you had with it; tell 
him of the plants with which you have had the best results, and also those which have been failures. 
Send him a good 
photograph and a plan of the garden. We want you to help us so that we may help others to beautify their surroundings. 
You need not be a skilled writer to tell the story of your own garden success. 
Tell it in your own way. 
$200 : p 0 First: Prizéstssn aves os-tes Ghee eee $100.00 
In F1Zes Second) gaeath Ree ee eae ee 50.00 
For the best gardens Third PERC ee eer oe UE coor tod bos 25.00 
Fourth: (22 22 ino ee Aer 15.00 
we offer: Fifth.“ aac en ee 10.00 
Conditions 
Competitors for the prizes must comply with the following conditions: 
1 A general description of the garden, giving the size of the plot 
and the kind of plants used. 
2 Plans of the plot are required, preferably on a scale of eight feet 
to the inch, showing the positions of the various plants and 
shrubs. 
3 Photographs of the garden are to be sent, printed on solio paper, 
and should not be less than 5 x7 inches in size. If possible, 
two sets of photographs should be sent, the set showing the plot 
before improvement was commenced, the other set showing the 
garden in full bloom. 
4 Descriptions, photographs and drawings are to be marked with a 
pseudonym, which is to be enclosed in a sealed envelope con- 
taining the name and address of the competitor. As soon 
as the judges have decided upon the five best gardens they 
will notify the Editor, who will open the envelope bearing the 
A few years ago the Editor of AMERICAN HoMEs AND 
GARDENS saw some workingmen’s cottage gardens so taste- 
fully laid out and so admirably kept, that the inherent 
artistic defects of the cottages themselves were almost for- 
gotten. The cottage dwellers had planted these gardens 
themselves and had cared for them in what little leisure 
time they could find. They demonstrated the fact that no 
man is so occupied that he cannot improve his surroundings 
if he so wills. It struck the Editor that here was a strik- 
ing illustration of the possibilities of the small plot, and 
that something should be done to encourage the suburban 
house owner to embellish what little land he owns by the 
judicious planting of flowers. 
The average suburban dwelling is not a joy to the eye. 
It usually bears all the marks of a structure which has been 
planned and turned piecemeal in a factory and hammered 
together on the spot where it stands. It is as like its neigh- 
bor as one city apartment house is like another. To give 
it distinction, why not let blossoming vines clamber over its 
pillars and porches? Why not plant its front yard, and.the 
strip of ground that flanks it on either side, with flowers 
tastefully selected for the purpose? ‘To encourage any 
such effort is the primary object of this competition. 
That others, who are not well informed in the art of 
proper pseudonym and containing the competitor’s name. ‘The 
competitor will be notified by the Editor that he has won the 
prize. The gardens awarded prizes will be published in 
AMERICAN HoMES AND GARDENS. 
5 The Garden Competition Editor reserves the right to publish: all 
gardens which, in the opinion of the judges, are worthy of 
honorable mention. The names of those whose gardens are 
reproduced will be published with the photograph. 
6 Contributions are to be submitted to the Garden Competition Edi- 
tor, AMERICAN HoMES AND GARDENS, 361 Broadway, New 
York. 
7 The Garden Competition closes September 15, 1909. Contestants 
need not be subscribers to AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS, 
and no charge or consideration of any kind is required. No 
photographs, manuscripts or plans will be returned. 
making the small lot florally attractive, may profit by the 
experience of others, and seek to improve their grounds, 
the editor will publish the prize-winning gardens. They 
will serve as an object-lesson in inexpensive and _ practical 
home gardening. 
If you have a pretty garden, surely you will aid in this 
movement. That you may be induced to give all the infor- 
mation in your power, and thus unwittingly help a country- 
dweller, perhaps hundreds of miles away, the conditions of 
the competition have been made as simple as possible. You 
may tell the story of your success in your own way. You 
may draw the plan of your garden roughly, if you choose, pro- 
vided that the drawing is intelligible in the light of the de- 
scriptive matter sent with it. Most important of all are the 
photographs. For reproduction they must be sharp and 
clear. Almost everyone owns a camera these days, and has 
more or less experience in photography, for which reason 
the supplying of good photographs should not be difficult. 
If you do not own a camera yourself, perhaps some neighbor 
will serve as your photographer. 
Above all, it should be remembered that the embellish- 
ment of the front yard is to be kept in mind, largely because 
the front yard is most apt to strike the eye from the village 
street. 
