496 



THE EDITOR'S OUTLOOK. 



their responsibility, as well as their apparent fail- 

 ure in managing a body of men unaccustomed to 

 deliberation. Though kindly criticism has not been 

 received in good part, it has borne fruit — the Bos- 

 ton meeting last August, was a manifest improve- 

 ment in many ways over former sessions. 



Great difficulty is experienced in obtaining a pro- 

 per attendance at any but the opening session of 

 the meeting. The many valuable papers and essays 

 presented fall on the ears of probably not more 

 than one-fourth the members who register. The 

 week, to many of the florists, is the one relaxation 

 of the year, and they will spend as little of it as 

 possible in convention. Though the papers and 

 discussions are fully reported for the benefit of 

 absentees, it is unfortunate that more are not at 

 hand to participate. Arrangements for perhaps 

 but one session daily, at an early hour, will doubt- 

 less eventually be made, with a view to obtaining 

 better attendance, and permitting all to join in the 

 sight-seeing and local entertainments. 



The exhibition attached to the meetings, includ- 

 ing various horticultural appliances and products, 

 has usually been loosely managed, and largely fails 

 of its proper use and benefit. It should be con- 

 trolled by the society itself, under a well considered 

 system, and its awards might then become worth 

 striving for. So long as it is left to chance and the 

 local organization in the city selected for meeting, the 

 trade exhibition will fail to be of much importance. 

 The florists have much to do that is of prime im- 

 portance, and their national society can become a 

 great national power for the good of horticulture 

 in the broadest sense. But to this end ques.tions 

 will need to be discussed with fairness and sincerity, 

 and action thereon be above petty trade limitations. 



The surroundings at Toronto will be very plea- 

 sant, as the society meets in a commodious hall in 

 the Toronto Horticultural Gardens. The inter- 

 course with Canadian brethren will be profitable, 

 but the only practical result will be "talk," as 

 Canada has a tremendous tariff fence which she 

 has propped up from both sides against her blood- 

 brother. 



HARD WORK. 



t( 77ARM work is hard, because 

 ^ done brutally." So says a 

 writer on another page, and a fact 

 so well stated deserves to become an aphorism. 

 How true it is one sees daily who meets our farm- 

 ers, especially in the eastern and southern states. 

 Many of them are dull, almost stupid ; slow in ac- 

 tion and in thought ; suspicious, yet credulous. 

 Surrounded by natural conditions which ought to 



uplift and ennoble, with beauty on every hand, they 

 see none of it. The thought has often presented 

 itself to the writer that they deserved the miserable 

 lot so many complain of, because they have created 

 it for themselves ! In many sections the farmers' 

 sons and daughters, if they happen to have a sparkle 

 of life, go away as quickly as they are able from 

 the uninteresting toil of their fathers and mothers. 

 That this is all wrong is most fully proved by the 

 prosperity and happiness of the exceptional farmers 

 who take their work as it should be taken, and have 

 a proper pride in their noble occupation. 



" It pays to find the bright side." True, it does ; 

 pays in dollars, pays in life and enjoyment of it. 

 In no other occupation will a discovery of the bright 

 side prove nore beneficial than in that of the farmer 

 and horticulturist. All the periodicals in this class 

 are uplifters toward the bright side, and largely 

 from their efforts is a better and brighter condition 

 appearing. " I bring up my children to work, but 

 to be experimenters and investigators. * * A 

 pleasant home is the end ; not nasty clothes, foul 

 habits and money !" Here is a whole gospel ! Such 

 " bringing up" makes the children industrious, but 

 intelligent ; trains their brains no less than their 

 hands ; makes of them honest, prosperous, con- 

 tented citizens, the mainstay of the American home 

 — and that is the mainstay of our grand republic. 

 Let us do all we can to lift the tillers of the soil out 

 of the " brutality" of farm work to the intelligent 

 happiness of the bright side ! 



* * 



PLEASURE A RE your eyes open ! 



EN ROUTE. t\ You have perhaps taken a rail- 

 road journey during the hot July 

 days. The train was stuffy, the rails shining streaks 

 of quivering heat ; the smoke and cinders annoyed 

 you more than ever before, possibly. You could 

 not read with ease ; though drowsy, sleep added 

 so much to your discomfort that it was avoided. 



Was this all of the trip ? Then your eyes were 

 not open ! Look out the window over the face of 

 the country. Here in a great field, just shorn of its 

 harvest, stands a lonely chestnut tree, a stately, 

 perfectly symmetrical monument to nature. Next 

 a trim farm strikes the eye as we flash onward — that 

 farmer is prosperous, and isn't worrying about his 

 condition ! In this bit of forest, notice the many 

 cool greens, deep and light, all restful. The pre- 

 vailing wild flowers — see how they vary in color. 

 For awhile the general effect is white ; then it 

 changes to blue, and possibly to yellow or red. And 

 so the panorama flashes by, full of life and interest, 

 and the journey is over before you know it. 



