of desirable aims formulated by Mrs. Hutcheson, some at least will 
fit every place and may well form points for concentration of effort. 
The question also reaches me: "What are the most important fea- 
tures to observe in the planting of the small suburban town lot from 
the point of view of the passer-by and the owner?" It seems obvious 
that the owner desires reasonable privacy and that the passer-by would 
be cheered by the sight of something beautiful; the conditions under 
which the latter clause would be carried out must depend on the degree 
to which the owner can trust the public. There are unfortunately, in 
nearly all communities that are near large centers of population, a 
certain number of persons who are of a wilfully mischievous, if not 
thieving, disposition, against whom it is necessary to guard our garden 
treasures however much we may wish to share them with those out- 
side. I am sorry to say that this is certainly the case within the Eng- 
lish Home Counties, while further away, and especially in the west — 
in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall — where people are of a singularly 
kindly nature, the flowers of a garden, however liberally displayed, 
would be thankfully enjoyed by those who pass by, and a branch of 
Rose or Lilac hanging over a wall within hand reach would be respected. 
The way-farer might take hold of it, the better to enjoy its beauty or 
fragrance, but it would be left unhurt. 
In the residential district outside Haarlem, in Holland, the garden 
ground of each house, between the house and the road, is laid out so 
that the whole display can be enjoyed from the roadway. There is 
not even a fence in the sense of a barrier; only something a few inches 
high such as may be easily stepped over, just to define the separating 
line of garden and road. Beds of Begonias and other summer flowers, 
splendidly grown, are close to the public way, often flanked by speci- 
men plants in tubs. The whole front garden is a display of flower 
beauty frankly and generously offered to the public. It tells its own 
tale of a public worthy of confidence. 
May I suggest that one of the most desirable things that a Garden 
Club could do in villages and suburbs would be to invite this kind of 
confidence in full measure. I think it is already indicated in Mrs. 
Hutcheson's proposal for the planting of the Garden Club-house, if a 
special building is provided, for here the experiment of inviting public 
sympathy could well be tried. Then there are the churchyards, which 
in some places at home have been made extremely beautiful by care- 
ful planting; here the fact of its being a place of religious consecra- 
tion, and one that is hallowed by our tenderest memories, will surely 
serve to protect anything planted in it. 
The restoration of the simpler ways of gardening with well-known 
flowers would be one of the most useful things that a local Garden 
Club could advise. A long life of gardening, and many years of garden 
designing, has taught me that the simplest ways are always the best, 
5 
