PARK AND CEMETERY 
406 
f 
r 
A New Era In 
After many years of widespread endeavor on the 
part of seed, plant, and flower specialists to induce 
popular interest in the annual Flower Show, it re- 
mained for a non-horticultural man, a busy newspaper 
man, but one whose finger correctly gauges the pub- 
lic pulse, to suggest an innovation which at one stroke 
made it not only a paying proposition but also lifted 
these exhibits to a new and higher plane, making 
them both interesting and educational to the general 
public instead of mere centers of purely horticultural 
contest and criticism. 
This, together with the adequate and satisfying set- 
ting furnished by the Coliseum, the new and presum- 
ably permanent site of the Chicago flower show, made 
the 1905 exhibition, November 7 to ii, a pronounced 
success. 
The distinctly novel feature of the Chicago Show 
consisted of so-called “model gardens” supplemented 
by illustrated talks on gardening, garden arrange- 
ment and allied topics. Not that the exhibitors gave 
them such a pretentious name, but the management, 
possibly in an unguarded moment, so christened 
A “MODEL” BACK YARD AT THE CHICAGO FLOWER SHOW. 
Exhibited by Vaughan’s Seed Store. 
Flower Shows. 
them and the public lost no time in accepting the 
title. 
Model back yards was the idea suggested by the 
originator of this new departure and it was carried 
out as well, perhaps, as could be expected on short 
notice, — the movement having been started only about 
ten days or two weeks before the opening of the 
Show. 
Six firms responded to the call for this unusual 
form of exhibit, and while no one of the results was 
perfect, some of them were as a whole meritorious, 
although there is a general feeling that a much bet- 
ter showing can be made next time with the expe- 
rience gained this year, and with a fuller realiza- 
tion. of the needs of the people and the possibilities 
offered in presenting concrete examples of well-planted 
small grounds. 
It is unfortunate that some of the examples shown 
included thoroughly bad features, — positively inadmis- 
sible from the point of view of art. There can be 
no question as to the inconsistenc}^ and incongruity of 
gathering together in what purported to be a model 
i 
