THE USE OF ‘PLANTS 
although these should be added with great discretion. Their tastefulness is determined 
largely by the nature of the surroundings. An irregular or rough terrain is eminently suit¬ 
able for a rockery, but in a flat area it all too often feels out of place. 
Note how the Decorative Plants have not entirely been segregated by themselves in 
specific garden areas, but have also been used in many places as facers in front of, and in 
nooks between, the Filler Plants. 
Seats, benches, and lawn-chairs invite you to rest amid the flowers and the flashing 
colors and cheerful songs of birds which are to be found only in such an environment. 
Pools and bird-baths all add to the scene, but, of course, should be used with due restraint. 
Although the results may seem to 
border on the magical, there is nothing 
either magical or mysterious about the 
methods or means of obtaining them. 
Property boundaries should be en¬ 
closed with border plantings, for 
although the chief point of interest in 
a picture may be near its center, the 
best of pictures is improved by a 
proper frame. The “community park” 
method of landscaping homes has been tried and found wanting. In outside matters we 
all have a community interest, but in our homes our own family is the important unit. 
So make sure of your enclosing border plantings. 
There is no fixed rule as to the partition or division of areas; each home-ground presents 
its own unique opportunities. Individual preferences will also dictate and help determine 
these areas. In general, break up large spaces, but plant around small ones. When you 
have determined the general layout of your landscape, then be sure to use plants of the 
right classes for executing your plans. Remember, use Accent Plants for Major Structural 
use and general determination of planting areas—Filler Plants to tie together and surround 
the major plants and for foundation plantings—and Decorative Plants to embellish the 
structural plantings and for specific flower gardens. Keep these three divisions well in 
mind—don’t use any plant for the function that rightly belongs to a plant of another class. 
<•^4 Word About Prices 
During the last two or three years, in the nursery business, as in nearly all industries, there has been a 
chaotic price situation. A perusal of nursery lists has revealed a wide divergence between the prices asked 
for the same item. There has been a resultant tendency on the part of the public to view the lowest quoted 
price as standard, and to condemn as robbers those who quoted the higher prices. 
To be sure, in a catalog all plants of the same name and specified size appear alike. But plants are not 
grown in catalogs, nor are they turned out from standardized molds. Plants are grown in the soil, under 
varying conditions of fertility, moisture, light and heat. Moreover, each grower has his own standard, 
his own ideal of what each variety should conform to. 
The more careful growers of the better grades of plants obtain those better grades by careful and system¬ 
atic pruning, not only of the tops but also of the roots. In doing this, several years’ growth of the plants 
is sacrificed to make a denser, fuller-bodied top. By root-pruning the plants are caused to make a slower 
growth, but the roots are improved thereby and assure the home planter of greater success in his trans¬ 
plantings. These better grades, of course, cost more to produce. 
We freely grant that the bargain-priced plants have in many instances given good results. But all too 
often they have been expensive at any price, whereas the better grades have usually been found to give 
uniformly good results and to be actually cheaper. It costs no more to plant and care for a good plant than 
a poor one, and the replacement of poor plants is not only a double expense and double work and care, 
but also causes disappointment in obtaining the landscape effects for which the home gardener has so 
laboriously striven. 
A careful study of this Catalog will demonstrate that our prices are seldom the highest, yet not often 
the lowest. The prices we are asking have not been made haphazardly. Every item has been carefully 
checked and the price made according to the comparative grades of the plants we are offering. When our 
prices are high you may take it for granted that our grades are correspondingly high; but when the prices 
are low it indicates that we have a surplus of these items and are giving our customers the benefit of our 
usual grades at a saving to them, for the purpose of reducing our stock. 
Of course, we may be prejudiced, but we give you our carefully measured word that every item in 
this Catalog, at whatever price we have quoted it, represents the BEST VALUE PER DOLLAR. 
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