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The Dream of Spring 



fO one, we hope, has ceased to dream of warm bkie skies and flowers, 

 I even during these gray winter days. The time of bleak winds and 

 I snows may seem hopelessly long, but there is always some cheer 

 in looking ahead. Surely Easter always bring us the yearly resurrection 

 of the flowers. That day is most symbolic of the Great Return, and 

 until Easter the most of us must content ourselves with gray dawns 

 and firelights, with garden books and seed catalogs — and other promises. 



Here at Windermoor every ten days or so, with the arrival of a certain steamer on 

 our shores and with it certain private dispatches, we are given a very vivid glimpse of 

 luxurious gardens with their birds and sunshine. This is what we see : the North Atlan- 

 tic with its dark, rolling seas; then south through the blue Gulf Stream; then a warm 

 breeze from a tropic ocean. Two days out and then a group of islands in the afternoon 

 sunlight; green shores with white limestone homes; and then the harbor with its grim 

 men-of-war which lower their colors as we pass. Soon the landing — a wharf lined with 

 people dressed in white flannels and straws — and about everything the sweet perfume of 

 summer. Not far away, two or three miles perhaps, down a smooth white road lined 

 with royal palms and hibiscus hedges, we come to an old homestead — Rose Hill we will 

 call it — and here is where we are most deeply interested, for a very real glimpse of 

 spring awaits us. 



Here, surrounded by semi-tropical vegetation, is a model garden which is being cul- 

 tivated by two expert gardeners with the very definite purpose of giving all friends of 

 Windermoor greater protection on their seed supply. Here you will find long straight 

 rows of stakes, each bearing its number of identification. Here you will find the most 

 perfect specimens of vegetables it is possible to grow, all being produced under the 

 most intensive cultivation possible, with not a weed to be seen anywhere. Here 

 records are being taken daily with Government accuracy. Definite percentages 

 are awarded according to size, color, shape, earliness, and various other points which 

 are noted in our trial-ground work. 



Heretofore we have always found it necessary to take a certain amount of risk 

 on the seeds which were delivered late from our far-away growers. To the best 

 of our knowledge, these Bermuda trials are the first of their kind to be made by 

 an American seedsman. In the first place, we are making absolutely certain that all 

 of our new-crop seeds grow, and, in the second place, we are determining that they 

 are true to name and description. Reports are now being received with every 

 steamer, and we know that although a portion of our seeds must necessarily come from 

 far-away California or from war-torn France, they are fully up to standard, before being 

 sent out to the friends of Windermoor. Surely this is a very real dream of spring and 

 we want you to share it with us. 



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