iEht Entry f 

 <J, XXcNo 



^HOME AND FLOWERS 



Vol. XIV SEPTEMBER, 1903 l^o. o 



Entered as second class matter at the Springfield. Ohio, postoffice. 



This departmpnt is under the entire charge of Mr. Eexford, and everything not signed by 

 another name is from his pen. Eeaders are cordially invited to correspond freely with Mr. 

 Eexford, addressing him in care of this office. 



ACOREESPOXDEXT complains that 

 this magazine is ^'too elementary 

 in character'' to suit him. He says 

 it reminds him of the primer which used 

 to be in use in the schools. "We have out- 

 grown the A, B, C class/' he adds, "and 

 want to get into the reader." 



All of which goes to show that my cor- 

 respondent fails to "grasp the situation." 

 The mission of this magazine is, to de- 

 velop a love for flowers by encouraging 

 people to undertake the cultivation of 

 them, in the belief that the man or woman 

 who does so will not willingly be without 

 them after he or she has found out that 

 ther can be grown by those who know 

 comparatively little about them, and 

 grown so well that the grower becomes 

 ambitious to grow them better. It is with 

 this class of flower lovers that this mag- 

 azine has to deal, not the class which has 

 mastered the rudiments of the matter, 

 and is able to enter the advanced classes 

 in floricultural study. There are text- 

 books for such pupils, but it is not our 

 purpose to furnish them. We aim to help 

 the beginners, and amateur gardeners 



would not care to have us give space in 

 their magazine to articles of so "ad- 

 vanced" a character that they would fail 

 to interest the reader who is still in the 

 primary class. Therefore, we must con- 

 tinue to devote the magazine to the wants 

 and needs of those who have just begun 

 work among the flowers, and leave those 

 who have outgrown its "elementariness" 

 to look elsewhere for such information as 

 fits their advancement. A little thought 

 will convince such readers that it would 

 be very unwise for us to undertake to 

 our columns with matter which most of 4 

 our readers have no use for. 



* * 



The society for rural improvement has 

 continued its good work this season with 

 most encouraging results. It is no longer 

 an experiment. Improvement societies 

 have come to stay. Hand in hand with 

 them goes the society for the betterment 

 of country roads. With good roads, and 

 improved grounds, both public and pri- 

 vate, the country is taking on an appear- 

 ance of go-ahead-itiveness which promises 

 much for the future. What has been done 



