56 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
OUTDOOR ART . 
Associations Formed for Its Promotion—Annual Convention of 
American Association to be Held in Buffalo in July— 
Nurserymen as Members —Combination of Interests 
Suggested—Professor Bailey’s Plea for 
a Broader View Emphasized. 
Within the last decade interest in outdoor art has increased 
to such an extent that associations have been formed on all 
sides for its promotion. One of the most active of these is 
the American Park and Outdoor Art Association, the seventh 
annual meeting of which will be held in Buffalo, July 7-9, 
1903. The secretary of the association, Charles Mulford 
Robinson, Rochester, N. Y., has issued a preliminary program 
which provides for instructive and entertaining sessions in Buf¬ 
falo and a trip to Niagara Falls, with opportunity to attend the 
convention of the American League for Civic Improvement at 
Chautauqua the following week. Professor L. H. Bailey is to 
give an address on “ The Forward Movement in Outdoor Art,” 
and Mrs. Frances Copley Seavey, of Chicago, will talk on 
“The Possibilities of the Home Grounds.” 
The president of the association is Clinton Rogers Wood¬ 
ruff, of Philadelphia, and among the active workers are several 
whose names are familiar to nurserymen : Frederick W. Kel¬ 
sey, New York ; Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., John C. Olm¬ 
sted, Warren H. Manning, Brookline, Mass.; Charles W. Gar¬ 
field, Grand Rapids, Mich.; C. M. Loring, Minneapolis. 
Among the members are the following: George Ellwanger, 
Harlan P. Kelsey, J. W. Manning, J. Horace McFarland, 
Thomas B. Meehan, J. M. Underwood, J. C. Vaughan, Linus 
Woolverton. 
Aim of the Association. 
The sixth annual meeting was held in Boston, August 5-7, 
1902. The retiring secretary, Warren H. Manning at that 
time presented the aims of the association succinctly as follows: 
This association was organized in 1896 at Louisville, Ky., on the 
broad lines suggested in a letter from the late Charles Elliott, by men 
and women representing park and outdoor art interests. 
The park interests are represented by members of the boards of park 
commissioners of leading American cities, and by individuals and or¬ 
ganizations through whose efforts public reservations are being estab¬ 
lished in towns and country districts. 
The broader term of “ Outdoor Art,” represents all endeavor that is 
directed toward the preservation and improvement of landscapes, 
whether they be a broad sweep of hill and vale, in which a city is only 
an incident, or its mmy details, such as woods, waters, trees, streets, 
buildings, or gardens. 
To give such endeavor the most successful issue, they should have 
the benefit of many organizations working directly for the main ob¬ 
jects, they should be able to enlist the co-operation of other associations 
having similar purposes, the assistance of professional men, and the 
work of all individuals so far as it materially affects the appearance of 
landscape. They should have the assistance of the landscape designer, 
by whatever name he is known, whose work is the making of land¬ 
scapes ; the engineer, who may greatly modify a landscape for good or 
bad ; the architect, whose structures form the most important incidents 
in urban and many suburban landscapes ; the farmer; who has modified 
our American landscapes more profoundly than any other agency ; the 
forester, whose work has to do with one of the most important elements 
of a great landscape—its forests ; the irrigator, who will make green 
farms from arid wastes ; a'nd above all, the home-maker, who, aided 
and stimulated by the work of organization, can do more to make the 
daily outdoor life and surroundings of all the people agreeable and at. 
tractive than any other agency. 
Heretofore all agencies working for civic betterment, for the creation 
and preservation of attractive landscapes, and the improvement of the 
exterior of the home and its surroundings, have each been acting with 
so little knowledge of what the others were doing, that there has been 
much wasted effort and unnecessary expenditure of money and time in 
the duplication of work, and in attendance upon conventions in widely 
separated places during the same year. 
Combination of Interests. 
The following national .’associations, all of which have purposes, in 
many respects identical, have been requested to send representatives 
to this meeting to join in a conference regarding the advisability of 
establishing a central committee and a general secretary, who can give 
all his time to the work, to serve as a clearing-house for ideas, and 
through which any important movement could be brought to the 
attention of each society; also to consider the holding of meetings in 
the same place at the same time, or in other ways to avoid unnecessary 
labor and expense: 
National Municipal League. 
American Society of Municipal Improvements. 
American League for Civic Improvement. 
American Park and Outdoor Art Association. 
League for Social Service. 
Architectural League of America. 
American Institute of Architects. 
Society for the Protection of Native Plants. 
American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. 
League of American Municipalities. 
American Society of Landscape Architects. 
National Sculpture Society. 
It will be seen that the work of this association bears di¬ 
rectly upon the interests of the nursery trade, for it is evident 
that commercial aids will be needed to produce artistic re¬ 
sults. 
Broader Views for Nurserymen. 
Professor Bailey, in his address before the American Asso¬ 
ciation of Nurserymen in Milwaukee last year, said : “I be¬ 
lieve we must come into a larger field in our discussions.” 
He urged the nurserymen to take greater interest in the im¬ 
provement of school grounds and in conclusion he said : “ If 
I have any mission in life more than another, it is the spirit¬ 
ualization of agriculture.” 
The keynote of the convention of the American Park and 
Outdoor Art Association last year was the address of President 
Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University, “Popular Utilization 
of Public Reservations.” The address is too long for repro¬ 
duction in our columns, but nurserymen would be inspired to 
a realization of their responsibilities and their opportunities 
if they would hear all the addresses delivered at these con¬ 
ventions, and meet the earnest men and women who there 
assemble. 
We congratulate the members of the American Association 
of Nurserymen upon the prospects of a profitable convention 
in Detroit when opportunity will be given for broadening the 
view and enlarging plans of operation. 
GATEWAY NURSERY COMPANY. 
On May 1st the Gateway Nursery Co., incorporated with a 
capital stock of $50,000, succeeded the Fairmont Nurseries at 
Le Mars, la. The directors of the company are Pierce Bechtle, 
Le Mars, manager ; C. A. Stils, Cherokee, superintendent of 
field work ; W. L. Bechtle, O. M. Bechtle and G. W. Bolser, 
of Le Mars. The territory to be covered will include Iowa, 
Northern Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Southern 
Wisconsin, Minnesota and Northern Illinois. 
