70 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
their aid, can they reach the height of 
magnificence. This is the meaning of 
their hanging gardens, villas, garden- 
houses, islands, parks.” 
Before us in this fair southland, lie 
stretched out upon all sides, materials for 
attaining easily to a degree of that mag¬ 
nificence, for which these masters have 
struggled. It is my privilege to speak to 
you concerning certain of these materi¬ 
als, and to lay before you such facts as 
a non-professional can glean from the 
ups and downs of several years’ experi¬ 
ence with ornamentals. What I have to 
offer may not be new to you, neither may 
it seem of value, but if such be the case 
I can only comfort myself with the say¬ 
ing of Daniel Webster, that “What is 
valuable is not new, and what is new is 
not valuable.” The territory concern¬ 
ing which I speak lies on the west side of 
Indian River from Wabasso on the 
north, to Palm Beach on the south. Oth¬ 
er localities will be covered by other pa¬ 
pers, and moreover I wish to be quite 
certain of my statements, that my words 
may carry conviction, as did those of the 
old German who invariably clinched 
every argument with the emphatic re¬ 
mark : “I knows vot I knows, und dats 
vot I knows.” 
I shall also call things by their good, 
common, every-day names, not, of 
course, that I may be the more readily 
understood, but that I may save myself 
some embarrassment. The foundation 
for all successful ornamentation is, of 
course, grass, and it is a very difficult 
foundation to lay. For the grass goes, 
“creeping, creeping, everywhere,” ex¬ 
cept in Florida. Here it must be coaxed, 
pushed, and carefully nurtured, and then 
perhaps it may not creep far. I can with 
the clearest conscience, recommend St. 
Augustine grass. It grows readily in 
shade as well as sun, is a brilliant green 
all the year, and makes a velvety sod 
when close-cropped. Can be cut with 
a lawn-mower. St. Lucie grass is a finer 
bladed grass, but is much shorter lived. 
Of Bermuda grass I will not speak, be¬ 
cause I am peaceably inclined, and know 
full well the war-like possibilities of the 
Bermuda grass question. No doubt 
there are some among you who fully 
catch my meaning when I say that there 
is always doubt, when you plant Ber¬ 
muda grass, as to whether you have the 
grass or the grass has you. 
# 
Passing on to the fencing-in of the 
grass covered lawn, nothing is prettier 
than a well-kept hedge. If you want a 
low, thick, square-trimmed hedge, you 
will find satisfaction in the Amoor River 
Privet. It stands, untouched, a tem¬ 
perature of 24 degrees above zero, is 
evergreen and grows rapidly. It can 
be planted in single or double rows, 
plants being from 12 to 18 inches apart. 
The time for planting is between No¬ 
vember 1st and February ist. The 
hedge must be worked in spring and fall, 
and orange tree manure used for fer¬ 
tilizing. Some good results have been 
obtained with Arborvitae, but it is of 
slow growth, and while, according to 
Longfellow, “patience is powerful,” it 
is not equal to an arborvitae hedge in 
Florida. 
A row of Philanthus, bright-hued and 
graceful, is good to look upon, but it is 
with you today and gone tomorrow, if 
the thermometer takes a tumble in the 
night. Bignonia, sometimes despised be¬ 
cause of its cheerful contentment under 
all sorts of conditions, can be made effec¬ 
tive either in clumps, or trained over a 
frame to form a hedge or screet\ its 
bright scarlet flowers smiling from their 
