312 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
LANDSCAPES FOR THE RURAL HOMES 
In a pigeonhole in one corner of my 
desk is a letter written by an ex-president 
of one of the transcontinental railroads. 
'I'he letter reads something like this : “Will 
you please make ready and ship to — a 
number of shrubs and plants suitable for 
planting around a water station and charge 
them to my personal account.” Reward of 
merit. 
This official on an inspection tour was 
forced to stop his train to take water in 
the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Sel- 
dom did the care-taker see anyone except 
the trainmen. Officials paid little attention 
to this man, practical!}' lost in the moun- 
tains. Yet this man’s eye was attracted by 
the neat-appearing surroundings ; the flower 
beds, which were well placed about the 
water station and his humble shack beside 
the tracks. His was the only home; living 
alone with his family, knowing nothing of 
the big, busy, rushing world, he was most 
content. When asked if there was any- 
thing he needed by the man away up, he 
replied there was nothing that he needed 
but he would like to have some flower seeds 
or plants to help make the surroundings 
more inviting; his children loved to look at 
the blooming plants, as they were company 
for them : also that when the trains stopped 
for water the passengers could admire the 
flowers. 
There w-as an instinct for the beautiful 
born in this poor man and, although iso- 
lated from the world, hidden away in the 
mountains, this instinct could not be cov- 
ered. 
Many of our citizens, not so situated as 
this man, but who are growing up in the 
midst of civilization, are so busy with the 
world that, if they have an instinct for the 
beautiful, they seem to forget that money 
cannot buy all the pleasures this world af- 
fords ; and while we live, be it in the heart 
of the Rocky Mountains, along one of our 
beautiful streams, or on the shores of one 
of our many magnificent lakes, let us live 
that we may attract the attention of the 
passerby, extend him the advantages placed 
within us, and that he may feel thankful 
that his lot was cast in our presence. 
Did you ever hear the story told in one 
of our magazines of the manufacturing 
town in the East where the children, when 
they attended school, were so dirty that the 
teacher in the school spoke of it a number 
of times and asked the children to be more 
tidy about themselves, or in other words, 
clean up. This seemed to be of no avail ; 
they continued the same, week after week. 
These children were all foreigners and their 
parents had never had an example set be- 
fore them — they knew no better. 
One day a strange little girl appeared at 
school, all togged in clean clothes and with 
a nice bright face. The children sat in 
Address before the Minnesota Horticultural 
Society by Mr. Holm, of Holm & Olson. 
envy. The teacher could not speak for fear 
of embarrassing this ray of sunshine that 
had so suddenly appeared in their midst or 
for fear of making the others feel badly, 
thinking it might be a hardship on some of 
their parents, as they were considered poor. 
The story goes that from the first week 
there was a very noticeable change in that 
school. The example set by this little girl 
grew, and the pride imbedded in the hearts 
of those children who knew nothing better 
grew, until that school was completely 
charged in six months. 
Just so, my friends, it is up to you. You 
must set the example. If you make your 
home or your grounds attractive, you set the 
example for others to follow. We all live 
to enjoy our surroundings and the more 
pleasant we can make these, the more we 
do for mankind and the uplift of humanity. 
Rural homes need inviting surroundings 
just the same as the city home. One living 
in the country sees more of home than the 
man in the city, as he lives more in his 
home than the city man. Think of the 
family growing up, the days and weeks it 
is impossible at times during the year for 
them to get away. Do you not think the 
hoys and girls would be bound with 
stronger ties if instead of using the front 
yard as a storage for machinery from one 
season to the other, it should be made 
more inviting? I do not mean by this that 
any member of this society uses his front 
lawn for storage of tools or machinery, 
but there are those who do. 
It is not necessary in having beautiful 
grounds that you must have an expensive 
home. Far from it! Better a modest un- 
assuming cottage nested amid surroundings 
that “fit” than a pretentious mansion with 
haphazard plantings where everything 
seems to pull different w''ays. Plan to have 
the grounds so that you can enjoy them, 
and that they are in keeping with every 
other part. 
It would be useless for me to lay down 
a plan or scheme that could be used by 
any of you. Your grounds and surround- 
ings would not fit it. 
As the architect sees the unfinished house 
in a block of marble, so the skillful land- 
scape architect sees undeveloped beauties 
in the humlflest plot of ground. 
The designer’s skill is not always shown 
to the liest advantage in the city’s great 
parks where money and materials are easy 
to obtain, but rather in the planning of the 
small home grounds are opportunities for 
making a beautiful home without a lavish 
outlay. In this unimproved plot of ground 
he may bring out some hidden natural 
beauties, and give the place a distinction 
and character of its own. 
The successful landscape gardener must 
not only be able to give his work this dis- 
tinction and character, but he must be a 
student of tree and plant life ; he must 
know in advance the habit of growth, the 
form of foliage and the color of flower of 
every tree, shrub or plant that he uses. 
He must know how each will look when 
fully developed, and be able to see whether 
it will give the right effect; and more than 
this, he must be an artist who, with tree 
and shrub and plant, can paint a picture 
about the house that will be a constant 
pleasure from daybreak until the last long 
shadow is cast at the close of the day. 
Every landscape problem must be con- 
sidered by itself and, in order that every- 
thing may harmonize when the work is 
completed, the architecture of the grounds 
must be handled just as carefully and with 
the same definite purpose as the architec- 
ture of the house. 
The effect of the attractively planted 
home upon the community is general — is a 
force that cannot be overlooked. Such an 
influence is bound to be shown by the 
unmistakable tendency toward beautifying 
other homes in the same locality. There is 
an actual financial gain due to the increase 
in the value of your property; none the 
less real and vital of these is the added 
attractiveness of such a home to children 
and the influence for good that it exerts 
in their lives. 
Just a word to those of you who grow 
trees and shrubs. The upbuilding of this 
profession cannot be accomplished when 
you send out men to solicit business or 
advise with your clients, unless they are 
students of the profession. Your client 
must place himself in the same position as 
you do when you call a physician — you 
know you are sick, that is all. Your client 
knows he needs your services and your 
success is measured just so far as you can 
get his confidence. He places himself at 
your mercy. If you or your men are sim- 
ply working for the sale of material with- 
out the knowledge of future development, 
better change your system. 
Landscape gardening is in its infancy, 
and the educational feature in building it 
up in recent years make a demand for men 
educated along these lines. Our universi- 
ties are busy in some states educating 
young men and women for this purpose, 
and the profession is more enticing than 
many other callings and I can see a bright 
future for the energetic young man or 
woman who fits himself or herself to make 
the world more beautiful. Again, the satis- 
faction one has in knowing that a life 
spent ill helping make others happy, in 
leading to higher ideas of public culture, 
the service you lend in improving the com- 
munity in general, and the tendency to ele- 
vate the public spirit and engage public in- 
terest in such worthy matters. 
