mind the tint of the cloth did not enhance, but disturbed 
the beautiful suitability of the whole arrangement. 
In the matter of cloths a writer in one of the trade papers said, 
"Seems to me that the ladies of the Garden Club of America 
paid an awful lot of attention to table-cloths." And that was 
all he did say. It is to be hoped that he will have occasion, next 
year, to enlarge on other details. 
Many of the lunch tables were over-loaded but there were 
few justifiable criticisms in other directions. 
To the disgust of a Gardex Club member, she overheard one 
unregenerate spectator remark to another, "Come along over to 
those other tables. These ain't the real ones:" the "real ones" 
referred to being the professional ones set out by florists and 
gardeners, to which our amateur class is a protest and example. 
"We seek to educate but are we ourselves truly educated ? What 
we should display on this great public occasion when horticul- 
tural affairs attract so large an audience is the sort of table that 
each one of us has used many times at home, something that has 
been really successful as a beautiful arrangement and a practical 
decoration. A ccessories should be very carefully thought out and 
details carried out with great precision.. We must until we 
prove ourselves, be purists. 
The Clubs would do better to entrust their entries to one 
member rather than to a committee of members and the Gardex 
Club of America should modify its rules. A table for four is too 
highly specialized and even though our show tables are too small 
to seat comfortably a larger number they could easily be imag- 
ined to seat "not more than eight." This would very much 
enlarge the possibilities and make suitable many accessories that 
could not be used on a table simple enough for four. We are 
well started and next year perhaps the table cloths will be 
slightlv over-shadowed bv the flowers and the decorations will 
be "real." 
Can Something Be Done for Plant Breeding? 
By David Fairchild. 
President of American Genetic Association. Agricultural Explorer in 
Charge of Plant Introduction. Department of Agriculture. 
I have been accorded the privilege of a little space in this 
Bulletix in which to present the claims of the Plant Breeder. 
I wish I had the money to put it in the form of a night letter 
to every member of the Gardex Club of America for the case 
demands the real attention of the Club. 
When you step out under your climbing Roses and scent the 
fragrance of their blooms, remember that their loveliness has 
been the work of a Plant Breeder who has never been paid for 
his years of self-sacrificing effort as has the inventor of some 
patented device which 3-ou have in your house. 
298 
