72 
House & Garden 
Bobbink & Atkins 
The Utility of Beauty 
In Winning the War 
A S I sit at my office desk and look out over our 
nurseries, wrapped now in a blanket of snow, 
. I have a feeling of impotent helplessness. I 
think of the active manufacturers, the builders, the 
captains of industry, the financiers, all alive, keen and 
alert, to whom it is given in these stirring days to 
create material things, to create fast and well—muni¬ 
tions and clothes and food. And I envy them. For 
what can we do with greenhouses and nurseries. 
Nature’s simple products of beauty, to help win the 
war? 
But as I pass along the sanded walks, through the warm, 
Nature-scented atmosphere of our greenhouses, I do not envy 
those other workers. For surely, right here in our own hands, 
is a work and a duty as great as any of theirs. Everywhere 
about me young green plants are growing, myriads of them, 
miles of them—seeds just coming up, plantlets putting out 
their first leaves, buds forming, blossoms opening—every¬ 
where fragrance and color and beauty—coming for Easter 
and for Spring. 
Are not these God-given materials to work with? In a 
world strained with anxiety and tense in labor, are not these 
little plants of ours rays of sunshine and hope? 
Faint-hearted nurserymen tell us that people are not going 
to buy trees and plants, shrubs and flowers while the war 
lasts. 
We do not believe it. 
Will your garden run to seed? Will weeds crowd out the 
blossoms along your walks? Will your lawn go uncut? Your 
roses tangle? Your climbers swing in the wind? Your hedge 
grow rough? 
Will such conditions inspire you to do your best? 
No, indeed! 
Whatever these days are they are not slacker days—neither 
at work, nor at home. You are putting all your energy into 
business to make your work count. To your home you look 
for relief and rest. It is the one place where you must renew 
energy, take fresh courage. 
And right here, it seems to Mr. Bobbink and to me, is 
where our share of the work of winning this war comes in. 
Never before have the trees and flowers and shrubs of our 
gardens everywhere in the country had so practical a work 
to perform— the work of keeping us up to our jobs, and help¬ 
ing us by their fragrance and color and beauty to keep fresh, 
hopeful, confident. 
It seems, indeed, as though our years of labor in accumulat¬ 
ing, planting, developing Nature’s best and most beautiful 
products here in America for American homes and gardens, 
had all been simply to fit us for the wonderful opportunity, 
now, at this supreme time. 
Let us utilize this Beauty for you, let us introduce it into 
your life and home and so, together, help win the war! 
FREDERICK L. ATKINS. 
Let us send you a copy of ' 
our Illustrated Catalogue 
Rutherford, New Jersey 
The Garden Beautiful is the Garden Useful 
(Continued front page 28) 
wisdom and rich common sense in the 
practice. A return to this old-fashioned 
custom would make for added happiness, 
independence and wealth to the people 
of the United States. Is it not a reason¬ 
able belief that much of the sturdy man¬ 
hood and fine patriotism, as well as the 
prosperity and health of the American 
ancestors of a century or more ago was 
due, in part at least, to their habit of 
gardening? The knowledge of every 
family that it was feeding itself in large 
part, gave a feeling of freedom and con¬ 
tentment which made for the general 
welfare of the community and of the 
country as a whole. 
Linking Production to Consumption 
Such a system put into operation to¬ 
day would benefit every individual, every 
community and the entire nation. There 
are many reasons why the production of 
food as near as possible to the source of 
consumption today would be of substan¬ 
tial service to the United States. Even 
in normal times it would have advan¬ 
tages, but in war times when the burden 
of the nation is increased manyfold, it 
possesses virtues which otherwise would 
not be so great. For one thing, it would 
result in a decrease in the cost of living 
and would encourage habits of thrift 
and conservation which will mean much 
in strengthening the sinews of war. 
But a still greater value of having 
food produced close to the kitchen door 
lies in the fact that it will do much to 
relieve the freight situation. It is neces¬ 
sary now to use thousands of freight 
cars and thousands of men to handle 
market products in getting them from 
their place of growth to their market. 
With millions of home gardens at work 
for the country, it will readily be seen 
that a vast load would be lifted at once 
from the already overburdened shoulders 
of the railroads. Ammunition plants 
are crying daily for more material, and 
always more, to be converted into muni¬ 
tions. Every freight car released from 
food carrying duty becomes a carrier of 
wool and guns and boxes and rubber 
and automobiles and other war supplies. 
This thought alone, without many 
others which might be assigned as to 
why war gardens should be planted all 
over the United States, should be enough 
to inspire every lover of home and coun¬ 
try to become a tiller of the soil, no mat¬ 
ter how small or how large his contribu¬ 
tion may be to the grand total of food 
produced. “Take care of the pennies 
and the dollars will take care of them¬ 
selves” is a fine old adage which applies 
to any who think that because they can¬ 
not do some large service, it is not worth 
doing anything at all. The size of the 
garden does not count. It is the spirit 
which enters into its cultivation. With 
the spirit of Americanism manifesting 
itself through millions of “soldiers of 
the soil” there will also grow a stronger 
and stronger bond of unity between the 
people of the United States, against 
which the power of autocracy can beat 
in vain. 
“Beauty unadorned is beauty most 
adorned,” the poet sings. This is true 
of gardens as of other forms of beauty. 
With the soul of democracy shining 
through it, the plain vegetable garden 
of a loyal, patriotic American citizen 
becomes more beautiful than the most 
elaborate arboretum or flower garden 
ever laid out to please the fancy of an¬ 
cient king or queen. 
The War Garden Department 
(Continued from page SO) 
dally good for this purpose because 
some of the particles are very large and 
it thus becomes gradually available for 
the plant roots over a long period of 
years. 
Wood ashes are good to mix with the 
soil, so that the growing trees will not 
lack for potash. The great mistake 
usually made in setting shrubs and all 
plants of this kind is to put them in 
too loosely. Even if the ground is 
strongly packed in about the roots so 
that it looks hard it will settle after 
several rains, leaving a hollow about the 
tree and thus making trouble. The best 
way to do the job is to use a small 
wooden tamp which can be worked with 
one hand while the hole is being filled, 
the tree or shrub being held with the 
other. It does little good to wait until 
the soil has been put in and then at¬ 
tempt to tramp it down on the surface. 
This gives results exactly opposite to 
those which are wanted—the soil should 
be made firm and tight around the roots 
and then tramped down hard on top. 
Extra early planting applies to dor¬ 
mant roses; but roses in pots, even if 
they are field roots which have been 
taken up in spring and carried over 
winter in a cold house, should not be 
put out until danger of severe frost is 
past. 
Perennials and Asparagus 
Perennials should be planted as early 
in the spring as the ground can be 
worked. As they will remain for a num¬ 
ber of years after once being planted, 
special care should be taken to furnish 
in advance the plant food they will re¬ 
quire, by the use of plenty of manure 
and bone. Even if you are not buying 
any new perennials this year—though 
there are a number of splendid new 
things in this year’s catalogs which 
should tempt any flower lover, even in 
these war times—you will probably have 
some of this kind of work to do if you 
want to keep the hardy perennials on 
your place up to what they were when 
you first got them. Most of the hardy 
perennials increase very rapidly, and as 
this results in overcrowding and ex¬ 
haustion of the plant food in the soil, 
the flowers are gradually weakened. 
After a few years’ growth without care 
even some of the finest varieties are 
hardly recognizable. 
One of the best permanent garden 
vegetable investments is an asparagus 
bed. Under conditions of reasonable 
care it should yield dividends every year. 
You can readily understand, therefore, 
that it will pay to go to some extra 
trouble in preparing the rows before set¬ 
ting out the plants. First of all be sure 
to get a place with fairly good drainage. 
While asparagus likes a rather moist 
soil, it does not thrive in standing water 
in fall and spring. The rows should be 
3’ to 4’ apart for home culture. The 
bed should be plowed or spaded out and 
prepared in almost as thorough a way as 
for sweet peas. This will bring the 
roots 5" or 6" below the surface, al¬ 
though they are covered with only about 
2" of soil at the time of planting, the rest 
being filled in as the plants grow until 
the rows are level with the surface. In 
buying, procure one-year-old plants. 
The variety most largely planted now 
by commercial growers in many sections 
(Continued on page 74) 
