44 
T II E G A II D E N MAG A Z I N E 
F EBBDABY, 19 15 
WAGNER PARK NURSERIES 
Box 830. 
Sidney, Ohio C- 
A Wagner Planting in Dayton, Ohio 
Let Wagner Beautify Your Grounds 
P UT the problem of your landscape treatment up to the Wagner Park Land- 
scape Architects. Let them work out the' details of planting for immediate 
effect and for permanent satisfaction. They will enhance the natural charm 
of pleasant outlook and smiling vista and screen all that is unlovely behind quick 
growing trees and evergreens. They will bring to their work the rich resources of 
Wagner Park Nurseries, hardy flowers and roses, shrubbery, vines and grasses, 
deciduous trees and evergreen conifers, all in the rugged hardihood that assures 
speedy growth and splendid results. 
Wagner Landscape Service extends from the simplest home lot to the most ex- 
tensive estate. It is yours to command. 
Write today for particulars and for our beautiful new Catalog 57 . 
Ik 
Prices Below All Others 
I will give a lot of new sorts free with 
every order I fill. Buy and test. Re- 
turn if not 0 . K. — mone^ refunded. 
Big Catalog FREE 
Over 700 illustrations of vegetables and 
flowers. Send yours and your neighbors’ 
addresses. 
FINEST GLADIOLI 
America, Mrs. King, Baron Hulot. 50c. per dozen postpaid. 
Niagara, Panama, Halley, Scarsdale, Peace, 75c. per dozen, 
postpaid. 
FINEST ROSES 
Best varieties roses. No. i, finest, strong two-year field-grown 
stock. Only $2.00 per ten. Why pay more? Supply limited. 
Send for catalogue and order now 
M. S. PERKINS & CO. Danvers, Mass. 
Lest You Forget 
THINGS THAT THRIVE 
Peonies Iris Gladioli Shrubs Roses Vines, etc. 
R. H. SHUMWAY Rockford. Illinois 
FKKI> W. CAKI>, Sylvanla, l*a. 
Dreer s Dahlias 
V\7E offer and fully describe in our 
v * Garden Book this season three 
hundred and forty-eight of the choicest 
New and Standard varieties, which 
include all types and colors of this 
favorite Fall flower, every one having 
been carefully tested and found desir- 
able. If you have never grown Dahlias 
you should begin by getting our 
Six “ Incomparable ” Dahlias for 
Garden Decorations for $1.25 
Or s etui for a copy of our Garden Book free and 
make your own selection. 
714-716 Chestnut Street 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
HENRY A. DREER 
Cactus Dahlia 
DAHLIA SPECIALISTS 
ings. I verily believe that $150 invested in this 
way would influence $1,500 worth of permanent 
improvements in the health, comfort, and beauty 
of the city! 
My second enemy has grown so tame that he 
will eat out of my hand — sometimes, though at 
others he treacherously nips the outstretched 
fingers. I blush to mention him by any of the 
harsh names with which I was wont to assail your 
finer sensibilities. In polite society he — or is it 
she? — is known as the “gardenesque style.” You 
already have proof that I now view this monster 
with less violent hate and more philosophic calm. 
No, I have not “sold out” to the interests that care 
more for quantity than for quality. We do occa- 
sionally “snick” off a few of the old hydra’s heads, 
but it is in a spirit of play — not of war. We are 
too busy illustrating the better thing. But there 
are two times, in every lecture when The Garden 
Magazine influence shows itself like a huge bouquet 
of peonies — the new, fragrant kinds with the good 
form and color. Whenever I silently introduce the 
portrait of my dear old friend, the canna bed in the 
middle of the lawn, there is every kind of joy from 
the concerted giggle, through honest chortling to 
the loud guffaw. If a lantern slide “does the trick,” 
why use mere words? Verily they may be works 
of supererogation. The same crowd responds in the 
same way to the lawn that is peppered with cut- 
leaved, weeping, and variegated freaks. Surely 
The Garden Magazine had a great part in ed- 
ucating popular taste among those merry- 
makers. 
Indeed the State of Illinois has so many “Gar- 
den” readers that I trust the editor will indulge me 
long enough to say a special word to them. Every 
week, seemingly, a letter comes from some enthusiast 
who alleges, “You do not know me, but, I have 
taken Country Life and Garden from the beginning. 
I bind the volumes, and I have all your writings by 
heart. Can’t you give us a lecture?” etc., etc. 
Really, I never knew so many copies of G. 
M. ever went to the bindery. But do you 
know the joys of meeting for the first time friends 
whom you have known for many years by corres- 
pondence? Then you understand how it feels for 
a stranger to be welcomed everywhere. May I 
ask you to receive my new associates in the same 
spirit? They have all been well trained in design 
and have had practical experience in the execution 
of plans. I shall always be glad to meet new-old 
friends and will see you when I can, but when I 
can’t, please don’t insist that “no one else will do, 
because we have taken The Garden Magazine 
from the beginning,” etc., etc. That song is getting 
to be a trifle repetitious. We now have three able 
lecturers who are also designers, and our little one- 
man movement of two years ago now employs 
eight persons — a small but devoted band of mis- 
sionaries. 
To readers in other states may I give a message? 
I cannot see you as often as formerly, nor can I 
write as frequently, but, if you care for it, I will send 
you a souvenir in the form of a large publication 
on landscape gardening containing 1 12 illustrations. 
I can send a limited number of copies to persons 
outside of Illinois who are willing to do what they 
can to establish or encourage the landscape exten- 
sion movement in their own states. This publica- 
tion is popularly known as the “ Illinois Way.” Of 
course, a state style of landscape gardening, strictly 
speaking, is impossible. The “Illinois Way” 
simply means the use of a high percentage of trees, 
shrubs, and vines native to Illinois. It is, indeed, 
merely the old gospel of local color in a new dress 
that may help to arouse a feeling in your state for 
your native materials. Some day, I hope I may be 
able to send you a book on “The Prairie Style of 
Landscape Gardening.” Much of my old passion 
for Americanism is now harnessed in the service of 
this new movement, which means more than local 
color or even regional color. The Prairie Style of 
Architecture has a new idea as big as that of the 
Gothic. If you have seen only extreme forms or 
imitations of it you may not like my invitation to 
come to Chicago and see some famous specimens 
of the “Prairie Style” in landscape gardening. 
Some come to scoff, but remain to pray. The 
Prairie Style is not antagonistic to conventional 
landscape gardening but it places emphasis on the 
horizontal line and on restoration. 
Illinois. Wilhelm Miller. 
