204 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
HOW A FLORIDA TOWN IS WORKING FOR A CITY 
BEAUTIFUL 
•- 
Mrs. Henry Wight, Sanford, Fla. 
A good many years ago, when I was 
a very little girl, with a very big imagi¬ 
nation, I used to entertain my younger 
brothers and sisters with marvelous sto¬ 
ries of things I was just on the eve of 
doing. The tales would get bigger and 
more wondrous, as my small auditors 
became more and more impressed, and 
I would plume myself for still further 
flights, when all at once my practical 
minded mother would bring me to earth 
with a bang by saying, “It is better to 
speak of a very small thing actually ac¬ 
complished than to be forever expatiating 
on things you are going to do, that may 
never come to pass.” 
I And myself reminded of this, as I 
undertake to tell the State Horticultural 
Society how one Florida town has set 
about getting more improvements in the 
way of ornamental planting in its gardens. 
Our plan is as yet but little more than a 
plan. It remains to be seen just what its 
results will be, but it is in the hope that 
it may present some suggestive thought 
to other communities that I have consent¬ 
ed to set it forth for your consideration. 
To begin with, we are working directly 
through a City Beautiful Committee, 
which of course is a part of our Woman’s 
Club. We thus have the hearty support 
of one hundred and fifty women. This 
means a great deal in the way of publicity 
where publicity is most desired, and it 
means also that no sectarian interest will 
hinder, no spirit of contention nor rivalry 
scatter our fire. Before we made any 
plans at all, we read up everything we 
could find on the City Beautiful. The 
campaigns successfully carried out in 
Birmingham, Alabama, and in Toledo, 
Ohio, presented many available ideas, and 
from the latter place we obtained some 
most inspirational literature. The work 
there was instituted and carried out under 
the auspices of the Toledo Museum of 
Art, in connection with the People’s Sav¬ 
ing Association, and it was more compre¬ 
hensive in its scope than any other cam¬ 
paign of which we found data. The Cu¬ 
rator of the Museum seems most happy 
to pass on any information he has, and 
has shown a real interest in our small 
venture. After reading all we could find, 
we first made a survey of our town—its 
assets and its possibilities. We have not 
the natural beauties of some Florida cities 
•—no surrounding woodland of tropical 
beauty, no picturesque effects of little 
silver lake, or gentle slope of hills. We 
have the most wonderful possibilities in 
our lake front, but they are only possi¬ 
bilities as yet, for the fine bulkhead which 
is in process of construction will enzone 
a shore line which has been denuded of 
nearly all its palms, and now presents an 
unsightly string of rather discreditable 
wooden buildings. We have no large 
estates in our vicinity, so we have not their 
stimulating effect of beautiful parks and 
