State Beautification and Conservation 
Mrs. A. B. Whitman, Orlando 
In the brief space of ten or twelve min¬ 
utes it is not possible to go very thorough¬ 
ly into either division of the subject as¬ 
signed me. The phase of State Beautifi¬ 
cation given me to present this evening 
for the purpose of calling forth a general 
discussion is “The Possibilities of a State 
Flower Show from the Standpoint of the 
State Federation of Women’s Clubs.” 
The line of Conservation which I have 
chosen from the divisions of that work in 
the Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs 
because of its possible interest for a gath¬ 
ering of this kind, is that of Highway 
Beautification, and I shall consider this 
second topic first. 
It is a matter of regret and surprise that 
among our own home people there is so 
little realization of the fact that conserva¬ 
tion of our natural growth means a won¬ 
derful state-wide beautification, some¬ 
thing distinctive, novel, luxuriant, and 
possible with the least outlay of time and 
funds. 
All over the State at the present time 
plans are under way for building and 
maintaining a splendid system of hard¬ 
surfaced highways and along with plans 
for this work are plans for highway beau¬ 
tification. Our bond issues provide for 
engineers but not for landscape architects, 
and the ornamental work along our high¬ 
ways depends upon the interest and 
knowledge of volunteer groups, willing to 
work and anxious to get results and filled 
with a great desire to do things at once. 
You all know that this desire to do some¬ 
thing usually takes the form of cutting 
something down in order to plant some¬ 
thing in its place and you also know that 
engineering work usually has in its scheme 
of things in road development the abso¬ 
lute cuttting down and clearing out of 
everything growing in the right of way. 
Our new roads are planned with a very 
wide right of way, less than half of which 
is to be taken up with paving and drainage 
provision and what I should like to see, 
and there are many who agree with me, is 
the natural growth, trees, shrubs and 
scrub palmettoes left along the outer edge 
of the highway rights of way. I am not 
as familiar with the habits of growth of 
the trees and shrubs of other states, but I 
do know that in Florida the tendency of 
growth along the roads is for grass to 
spread out from the paving, then a fringe 
of shrubs and at the outer edge the trees 
common to each particular locality, ar¬ 
ranged by nature according to the best 
principles of landscaping. 
Our ideas of highway planting are 
mostly taken from the plans followed in 
other states, states that have little natural 
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