60 
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 
the bearded priests and monks of Bulgaria are in- 
vested in the popular mind. The Bulgarians appear 
to have little idea of road making, even in the towns, 
and our queer-looking procession of carriages rattled 
through the streets until we reached the Bishop's 
house. There were Roses everywhere as far as the 
eye could see, and the air was laden with the fragrance 
of the Damask Rose. The scene was almost equal 
to that at Kazanlik— the centre of the attar industry. 
A bevy of plum-eyed maidens, in picturesque cos- 
tumes,' left their baskets of Roses and gathered round 
my friends from Ireland. Like the older men and 
women, they were affable and good-natured, and at 
all times only too ready and eager to pose before the 
camera. 
High up on the Shipka Pass a general view of the 
valley of Roses of Kazanlik is obtained, and in the 
foreground the Russian monastery at Shipka, with 
its gilded cupolas, stands out in bold relief. This mag- 
nificent building was erected by the Russians to com- 
memorate the defeat of the Turks at Shipka Pass. 
The Bulgarians allowed the Russians to build this 
noble edifice, and then forbade the inhabitants to use 
it. 
The flora of this district proved most interesting, 
and among the plants we came across were the Fish- 
bone Thistle (Cnicus Casabonae), Honey Balm (Me- 
littis Melissophyllum), Aquilegia lutea, Geum coc- 
cineum. Geranium macrorrhizum, Saxifraga rotundi- 
folia, Rhus Cotinus, Lilium Martagon, Pulmonaria 
rubra, Campanula velutina and Pinus Peuke (the 
Macedonian Pine). At higher elevations we found 
Dianthus microlepis and its white variety, Gentiana 
verna, the violet-flowered Primula deorum, Soldanella 
montana and S. pusilla, Junipers, Crocuses and Orchids 
in variety. Annual Larkspurs and Love-in-a-Mist 
abound in the lowland fields. It was while crossing 
the Shipka Pass that we gazed upon one of the most 
glorious floral sights that we could ever hope to see. 
Under the partial shade of Junipers and other low- 
growing trees were masses of that lovely Gesnerad, 
Haberlea rhodopensis. Its flowers were so abundant 
that its foliage was almost hidden from view. My 
late and esteemed friend, C. F. Ball, of Glasnevin, 
delighted the company by discovering among rocky 
boulders a pure white form of this beautiful plant. — 
Herbert Cowley, Editor The Garden (English). 
THE NATURALIST IN HIS GARDEN. 
'TPREES and bushes and plants are our fellow-be- 
*■ ings, and the mindless fellows of the world teach 
us the wholesome value of verity. 
We, who use the laws of nature more or less, 
always deform the natural evolution of things and 
easily depart from the absolute. Trees and shrubs 
show us the absolute in nature, the exact effect of 
causes evolved in natural law. The gardener has 
minded all he can, and made the environment as 
favorable as possible, but that something substantial, 
which he cannot touch, is what makes us fellows. To 
watch natural law cause and effect makes us natural 
lawmakers in civil fraternity. 
The fellow who knows a fine tree at sight has a 
fine appreciation of good citizenship. The fellow 
who is not lonely in an orchard is a lover of his 
kind, and a community value. A certain health comes 
to a fellow for being a fitness in nature. 
Every orchard and garden is a law office of nature, 
with procedures filed orderly for students in the word- 
less records of trees and shrubs and plants evolved in 
a perfect use of law. It is a tonic to the tired, mental 
being to study wordless files put by mindless beings, 
and learn that to will is not worth much unless one 
knows well how to will. Often the fellow who is sure 
he knows needs the tonic most. To be well willed as 
creatures of nature is grander than some of us think. 
At first we cannot read the wordless files, and nobody 
is able to read all that are bared and open to time and 
weather. The smallest garden has the procedures 
of nature filed for centuries and possibly the smallest 
pot plant files them. Who can show that it does not? 
To grow a small pot-plant involves a use of natural 
law, upon record in every plant exhibit, and which no- 
body has been able to read in full. It is delightful to 
get out in the garden and study law, that has been 
absolutely successful, and aim at something truly big. 
Who shall say why a violet blooms? It is such a com- 
mon thing we have forgotten that it is yet a mystery 
to us, and a darling proof of nature's perfect 
willing. 
The garden calls to the chemist to quit his labora- 
tory session for an hour ; to the botanist to bring along 
his knowledge of chemistry ; to the biologist to bring 
along his knowledge of physics ; to the astronomer as 
a reference fellow ; to the mathematician as an orderly 
witness to new procedures ; to the psychologist as an 
estimator of conscious being related to more orderly 
beings ; to the theologian, who needs to know garden 
witnesses to the fact, that nature is never at variance 
with God; to the physicist, who has studied only inor- 
ganic mass ; to the naturalist, who wants to prove him- 
self true and the scientific research of his age; to the 
scientist, who is anxious to record a new finding of 
natural law; to the evolutionist, who knows that evo- 
lution does not create, but merely furthers a contin- 
uance of the created. The Creator of all things is 
present in the garden, but in a verity we are yet too 
enfeebled for finding. 
A little garden plot can prove up true or false all 
the things we have studied in life, but if there were no 
standing room left in a garden plot of standing sages, 
how little the congregation of them would know of 
why a violet blooms? — Suburban California. 
PARK INSTITUTE OF NEW ENGLAND. 
A X interesting meeting of this young organization 
^*- was held at the Kaiserhof, New Haven, Conn., on 
Tuesdays, January 26. Seventeen members were 
present. Following luncheon Mr. Gallagher, of Olm- 
sted Bros., Brookline, Mass., gave an instructive talk 
on Lines and Curves in Park Roads and Walks, illus- 
trated with photographs and diagrams, showing the 
relation of roads and walks to the conformation of 
the ground and showing how ideals are effected by 
modern demands for seeing a long distance ahead on 
driveways. 
Fred C. Green, superintendent of Parks of Provi- 
dence, R. I., read some entertaining notes from rec- 
ords made jointly by himself and Theodore Wirth 
during the four-weeks' trip of the Park Superinten- 
dents to the Pacific Coast last summer. 
After the meeting a visit was made on invitation of 
Superintendent Amrhyn to East Rock Park, where 
the nursery and zoo departments and the new service 
building and repair shops — said to be the finest in 
the United States — were inspected and Air. Amrhyn's 
new residence admired. 
