102 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
for at least eight years’ service. One tractor owner who 
purchased an experimental machine in 1911, of what is 
now a leading tractor company, stated that it is working 
as well as ever this year and apparently would still give 
much more seiwice. The old saying ‘pound makes pound’ 
is probably fundamental to the life of a tractor. If the 
hearings are permitted to become loose the engine will 
soon hammer itself to destruction, hence the necessity of 
careful and frequent inspection. 
“A young farmer called into military service wrote as 
follows: ‘I wish to say that my tractor has for three 
years given very satisfactory service. I made it a rule to 
give it at least as much time every evening as it would 
take to put away a team. I tightened any loose bolts and 
made sure it was in good shape for the next morning, 
and I can say that very little time was lost from failure 
of the tractor to run.’ 
“Service by the tractor companies is important to the 
purchaser who is not familiar with tractors. Here is a 
most reasonable proposition made by one tractor selling 
agency. ‘We will help you through the first season 
free of cost, at the end of the season our man will dis¬ 
mantle the tractor and engine and instruct the owner 
how to adjust the bearings, grind the valves, and gen¬ 
erally keep his tractor in repair; after that all service will 
be charged for.’ This proposition is fair, as it gives the 
owner ample opportunity to learn about his tractor and 
the limit set makes him keen to learn. At the same time, 
it protects the selling agency from the imposition of 
never ending requests for seiwice.” 
Beautification of the Home Surroundings 
By Virginia Hale, Nashville, Tennessee. 
T he first word which I have to say in the considera¬ 
tion of beautifying home surroundings is to urge 
the advantage of the expert advice of a thor¬ 
oughly trained, well educated landscape architect. 
I am often reminded of a letter which I saw some years 
ago in the query box of a local paper. “Dear Mr. Editor,” 
it read. “I am in much trouble. I am building myself a 
house for which I drew the plans and now that it is al¬ 
most completed I find that the main stairway starts in 
the kitchen and lands in the bathroom. What would you 
advise me to do?” 
Just so, many of the home grounds laid out by ama¬ 
teurs show an absolute lack of design,—the road or path 
approaches the house from the worst possible point of 
vantage,—a screening of the service portion becomes an 
impossibility,—the service drive proves inadequate for 
the maneuvering of heavy coal and ice trucks,—the gar¬ 
den portion is probably cut in two by the drive and the 
living portion of the lawn exposed to the view of every 
incomer as well as every passerby. Only the person who 
has made such mistakes and has attempted to rectify 
them knows just how costly they are both as to time and 
money. Mistakes which the rich men can better afford, 
than the man of limited means. 
America having lived through her architectural reign 
of terror or as one famous architect calls it “the pug- 
poodly-hound-New Foundland style” is building for her¬ 
self many beautiful homes. If as a people we have 
learned to appreciate and demand good architecture, 
should we not have the wisdom to seek as great know¬ 
ledge as possible in the disposition and location of the 
house and the treatment of the most important piece of 
giound in the world to each individual,—the area, large 
or small, around one’s home? 
The landscape architect must he a man trained in de¬ 
sign as well as in horticulture, he must he theoretical as 
well as practical, he must he a man of broad far-seeing 
vision as well as with an eye for the minor detail, for of 
all artists he is the only one who never sees his work 
completed, he can only visualize with his inner eye how 
his silent partner, nature, will execute his plans and de¬ 
signs long after he has passed on. 
It is a great profession which is just now coming into 
its own, and it seems to me that it is to you nurserymen 
that we should look for the coming generation of land¬ 
scape architects. From you, your children should in¬ 
herit a horticultural taste and knowledge which added to 
the technical and artistic training which you may give 
them should produce a well rounded development which 
should make for landscape architects of distinction, who 
will he able to cope with the increasing demand for their 
services in the South. 
Without a doubt the landscape architect’s hour is at 
hand. People are turning from the cities to the country 
for their real enjoyment. Suburban additions are con¬ 
stantly being opened, golf and Country Clubs are buillt 
and the fifty foot city lots are being abandoned for the 
larger spaces of a country acre or acres. This part of 
wisdom both esthetic and financial demands that we call 
to our aid the most proficient help to be had,—be that 
help in Boston, New York or Chicago but let us see to it 
that in the near future we raise up among us one or more 
men of such ability and training that we need not send 
away for advice and then in time we shall have the ad¬ 
ditional advantage of one possessing knowledge of local 
climate and conditions. 
Hansard, Cornell, Amherst and the University of Il¬ 
linois all have four courses and are turning out each year 
graduates well trained to meet the demands of landscape 
architecture. 
Generally speaking all suburban and country places 
have an entrance side, a service side, a garden side and 
a lawn side. Naturally the entrance side should be 
planted with more formality t.han any other portion of 
the grounds unless one is going in for a strictly formal 
gardem The service portion should he pei’manently and 
adequately sci’cened. The comings and goings of the 
gi’oceryman, the iceman and the coal cart, while an es- 
