THE LEAGUE OF 7 | v HE plea of an ardent gar- 
AMATEUR GARDENERS X den lover that we print 
below has been lying imprinted 
a long while. It was a little premature in its sanguine expressions, 
perhaps it still is. But to-day we publish it; to-day we add our 
own urgings for a concerted campaign for gardens. It is a fine 
thing for each man to have his garden; good for the neighbor¬ 
hood, good for himself, but something more is needed, something 
inclusive. 
There is now the first Bicker of the dawn of a co-operative era. 
Towns and villages are just beginning to take up the housing 
question, to consider the chamber of commerce a real entity in 
the uplift of the community. There are village improvement 
societies as well. It is now time to broach the subject of a gar¬ 
den league. Even the hardest heads are now agreeing that the 
beauties of natural things works a good so real that it can be 
measured! So the co-operation of gardeners must come. It is 
necessary for the increase of the individual’s proficiency as a 
craftsman ; it is necessary for the extension of the garden idea. 
And we don’t have to wait for that philanthropic leader who is 
going to organize the amateurs of the country. We can make a 
beginning with the garden club. This can be the developing unit 
that starts the powerful body into which it later coalesces. Else¬ 
where is the story of an ideal garden club and its doings. Per¬ 
haps it will show the means to many; here are merely hinted some 
of the possible ends. 
“For the amateur home gardeners, I wish to make a plea, not 
only for those confined to flat dwelling and porch and window 
gardening, but the home owners, in city and suburb, who are will¬ 
ing to devote time and means to make their surroundings attrac¬ 
tive. Large estates employ skilled gardeners. In the small home 
the owner is mainly his own gardener, minus the skill. Therein 
lies the trouble. I am not unmindful of the many articles written 
for his benefit, conflicting as some of them seem, owing to the 
various conditions under which growing things thrive or die. 
They are helpful, but they are not enough. They leave unsaid so 
much of value. Why? How? These words are on the lips of 
the amateur gardener from early spring to autumn. 
“I say this, because I know, having just passed my first year in 
a garden, as master of its fate. And during that time I expe¬ 
rienced many of the difficulties which confront the serious gar¬ 
dener, who wishes to make his small plot of ground yield its 
utmost in beauty and material need. The writers on gardening 
matters doubtless are well informed—too well informed, it would 
seem to the amateur. In their long experience they have forgotten 
too much of the small but important details. 
“The Flower Show, beautiful as it is, is of no direct value for 
the individual who does not possess a greenhouse or conservatory, 
though its display of shrubbery has of recent years been full of 
suggestions, as to what may be done, but not how to do it. 
“Though living for many years in a city flat, I gathered books 
on the subject, read and studied them and planned many gardens 
— on paper. It is because of the difficulties that confronted me 
when at last I began my real garden—the many details unthought 
of until they were to be met — that I began to wonder how the 
many, possessing even less knowledge than I and not much more 
practical experience, had patience to persist from year to year in 
the face of, if not absolute failure, certainly discouragingly meager 
results for the outlay of time, money and hope. Surely it is the 
primal and eternal joy of the work, not the fullness of the return, 
that saves home flower growing from extinction. But each year 
the soil calls, and those whose hearts are near to nature, hear; 
from the large estate with its many skilled gardeners to a city’s 
attic where a handful of earth is sprinkled with seed, comes the 
response. 
“I made it a point last year whenever possible to talk with any 
home flower grower I chanced to meet. I was often surprised 
at the eagerness, the pleasure evinced in freely discussing with a 
stranger — if flower lovers can be strangers — their successes and 
failures. 
“I met a member of the guild one Sunday morning last spring 
in Garfield Park. I followed him from flower to flower along the 
border. Before I left him I knew something of his efforts to 
raise plants of equal beauty. As we separated he said: “Well. I 
suppose we will learn some time — I suppose.’ The final ‘I sup¬ 
pose’ voiced discouragement. 
“The more I thought of it, the more convinced I became that 
there was a need for a more direct and adequate method of en¬ 
couragement, and the placing of information within the reach of 
the home gardener, than the chance newspaper article, seedsman’s 
catalogue, and even books and magazines. All of these are well 
enough so far as they go, but they cannot go far enough. There 
must first be a better understanding on the part of many home 
gardeners, of the very necessary, but most elementary knowledge 
of floriculture, before the readers are able to discriminate and 
apply to themselves that which they need. 
“In a 1673 edition of Bacon’s essays he begins the one on 
‘Gardens’ (spelling simplified) as follows: ‘God Almighty first 
planted a Garden ; and indeed it is the purest of Human pleasures. 
It is the greatest refreshments to the Spirits of Man, without 
which Building and Palaces are but Gross Handiworks. And a 
Man shalt ever see, that when Ages grow to Civility and Elegancy, 
Men come to Build Stately, sooner than to Garden Finely; as if 
Gardening were the greater Perfection.’ 
“In all the forms of true art, in the things which give the best 
and purest pleasure-—music, painting and their kindred — these in 
their highest development are beyond the reach of all except the 
few. So many of the very beautiful things in this world carry 
with them a correspondingly prohibitive price. Flowers alone of 
these treasures may he had almost for the asking. 
“There should be some place where bewildered amateurs could 
take a weakly plant, a blighted bud, a destroying insect, a handful 
of earth, and have their troubles explained away. Could not an 
association be formed under the auspices of the Horticultural 
Society; in fact, be a practical outgrowth of it ? There should be 
annual dues, not, however, obligatory; the individual head some 
well-known, successful amateur gardener. Many divisions and 
branches could be established in small cities and towns, being 
either independent or affiliated with the city or state society. 
“A cottage might be built in some park, surrounded by a model 
garden. Sbrubs and tall plants could form the line of inclosure, 
with perennials and annuals properly placed as to height, time of 
blooming and harmony of color. The scheme would embrace, as 
well, window and porch boxes, with growing plants suitable for 
the different exposures. 
“Lastly, as the crowning feature, there would be a thoroughly 
informed, practical gardener of monumental patience to answer 
questions. He would show one how to plant a seed or slip a 
geranium in sand, another how to enrich the soil or throw light 
on the mysteries of mushroom growing. Any teacher will ac¬ 
knowledge the worth of one practical demonstration over a dozen 
written ones. When such information for the individual need 
is made thus easily accessible, there will be a thousand flower 
growers where there is now one. Reading matter will be eagerly 
sought and the growers’ interest stimulated to demand more of 
their few feet of earth.” 
(124) 
