April, 1918 
The Glad Philosopher’s 
Musings. 
Cherish ever the friendship of a true 
friend. Without true friends we would 
be miserable mortals indeed. True 
friends are unfailing in their ministra- 
tions. True friends protect us from 
our enemies, and never turn against 
us to do us any harm. The birds, the 
toads, and even the unfortunate garter 
snakes, measure up to the require- 
ments as true friends of the gardener 
and his garden. 
In the Glad Philosopher’s circle of 
personal acquaintances are several 
families who spend their winters in 
the south, arriving back in the spring 
as soon as the weather here has be- 
come agreeable. Of course, I am al- 
ways happy to greet them again after 
their long absence. And I have other 
friends who likewise go south to spend 
their winters and they also return in 
early spring, and their coming, too, I 
always anticipate with gladness. I 
refer to the unfailing bluebirds. Al- 
though I love all birds, no one is quite 
so dear to my heart as the bluebird. 
“ Winged lute that we call a bluebird, 
You blend in a silvery strain 
The sound of the laughing waters, 
The patter of spring’s sweet rain, 
The voice of the winds, the sunshine, 
And fragrance of blossoming things, 
Ah ! You are an April poem, 
That God has dowered with wings.” 
— ( The Bluebird — Rexford.) 
The bluebirds are about the easiest 
attracted to nesting boxes of any of 
our insectivorous birds. They like to 
build in the hollow cavities of posts or 
trees, and a hollow apple tree in the 
orchard is a favorite nesting site. If 
bluebird houses are made inconspicu- 
ous by being built of old weather- 
beaten lumber, or painted a dull color, 
"camouflaged,” as it were, they should 
not fail to attract tenants. I make my 
boxes about ten inches high and six 
inches square at the top and bottom; the 
openings are either two inches square, 
or two and a half inches in diameter 
when made round, and without perch 
or threshold. The sparrows are not so 
likely to bother them if they are built 
without thresholds. Bluebird boxes 
should be fastened from 8 to 14 feet 
above the ground, with the opening 
facing the opposite direction from 
which the storms usually come. In 
these boxes they usually rear two 
broods in one season. 
Insects furnish three-fourths of the 
food of the bluebird, and beetles, grubs, 
caterpillars and grasshoppers comprise 
its favorite menu. The bluebird is, 
therefore, proven to be one of the 
gardener’s best friends, and as with all 
other true friends, his friendship should 
be cherished. 
The uncouth and homely hop-toad 
evidences the truth of the principle 
Slower (Brower 
that a true friend may have a rough 
exterior. Both the toad and the garter- 
snake have been ungratefully treated 
for ages and grossly misunderstood ; 
each is absolutely harmless and highly 
beneficial ; they also deserve a place 
amongst the gardener’s true friends, 
and the erroneous prejudice that has 
caused them to be shunned or destroyed 
should give place to sensible apprecia- 
tion and protection. 
“Your scribe,” as the country cor- 
respondent in his communication to 
the county paper would say, commends 
our editor's appeal for patriotism, 
posies and pigs. 
Speaking of pigs, it may surprise 
some to learn that the pig is considered 
the most intelligent of all our farm 
animals. It can be trained to point 
game like a pointer dog, and also to 
track game like a beagle. Educated 
pigs in circuses do stunts that are 
amazing and seem to evidence a cer- 
tain amount of reasoning power. In 
France the pig is trained to locate 
truffles deep in the ground by its keen 
sense of smell and to root them out, 
when they are collected and sold. Holy 
Writ records that our Savior once 
drove a legion of devils into a herd of 
swine, and anyone who has ever tried 
to get an escaped pig back into its pen 
can testify to the craftiness and dia- 
bolical cunning a pig can display when 
it stubbornly refuses to obey com- 
mands. 
"The pen is mightier than the sword,” 
Earl Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote ; 
But ’twas the quill Earl Edward meant, 
and not a pen to house a shoat. Using 
both kinds of pens, our editor will be 
doubly instrumental in helping win 
the war, and so his name should be 
added to the honor roll of those whom 
the pig has made famous. And there 
is already a goodly list of such besides 
Dold, Swift and Armour. You have 
all heard of Ham, Bacon, Swineburne 
and Gov. Hogg of Texas? 
The Glad Philosopher. 
Gardening in War Times. 
For those of us who must remain at home, 
it is a duty to those others that we live sane 
and calm lives, that we may be able at every 
opportunity to render the fullest measure of 
service to our boys at the front. Calmness 
and sanity are products of natural living. 
To be effective in troublous times means 
that we must hold to those things of life 
which bring contentment and restoration of 
spirit. 
The Maker placed Adam and Eve in a 
garden. Presumably it was His intention 
that a garden should furnish the greatest 
happiness and the loveliest surroundings in 
this life. 
We who love gardens have reason to be 
thankful. Gardening is relaxation. The re- 
fining and soothing effects of digging in a 
garden are the more keenly to be appreci- 
ated in war times because of the comparison 
such work affords to the echoes of the can- 
non and the strife of war. Nature’s whole- 
some breath is like a benediction. 
We who make gardening our hobby are 
glad of the broadened appreciation of our 
hobby brought about by the Government 
urging the people to plant gardens. We are 
43 
proud, too, because of the happiness and 
contentment our new found co-workers have 
discovered in growing things. Because our 
brothers are “ over there ” is no reason why 
we should expect the sun to stop shining, 
the beauties of Nature to cease, nor the 
songs of birds to be stilled. 
Flower gardening is just as necessary in 
these war times as vegetable gardening. 
Flowers are food for the soul, stabilizers of 
the emotions. More than ever do we need 
these things now— these signs of the Maker’s 
goodness and love. 
All of which leads up to the thought that 
it is correct and proper to plant flowers and 
grow beautiful things. God intended that 
flowers should give us cheerfulness. Was 
there ever a time when cheerfulness was more 
needed than in these days when so much is 
happening to unsettle our thoughts? Grow 
flowers ! Grow more flowers ! Grow still 
more flowers ! Preach the gospel of beauty 
and naturalness to all about you ! Allow 
your friends, allow your fellow men, allow 
even your enemies to enjoy your flowers 
and all will be drawn nearer to each other 
and to the Creator. 
Gardening for flowers, for beauty, for 
naturalness, will never be listed as a non- 
essential in the lives of the American people. 
It is as necessary a feature of wholesome 
lives as good fresh air and sunshine.— 
Joseph J. Lane in Garden Magazine. 
> 
Divided flower spike of the variety, 
Evelyn Kirtland. Can anyone tell the 
cause of this? This variety is an un- 
usually strong grower and this may 
perhaps account for the freak growth. 
Photograph furnished by Jno. J. Prouty, 
Baldwinsville, N. Y. 
This issue of The Flower Grower 
contains two suggestions showing how 
flower growers may serve a patriotic 
purpose by helping the Red Cross. 
What is more appropriate than flowers 
in war time and what is more appro- 
priate than their sale for Red Cross 
purposes ? Any further suggestions 
will be gladly received and we will be 
pleased to give publicity to good ideas 
along this line. 
