Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

Text from Pages 1 - 48 of the 1920 volume:

The School of Horticulture for Women AMBLER, PENNSYLVANIA Special Spring Course of Twelve Weeks Vegetable Gardening Fruit Growing School Gardening Poultry Canning and Preserving Bees Landscape Gardening Floriculture FEES Tuition for Entire Course $75.00 Floriculture (two periods per week) 23.00 Vegetable Gardening (two periods per week) 23.00 Any subject (one period per wk. 12.00 Board $10.00 per week. Lodging $2 to $4 per week. Registration fee $5. Not transferable. August Course Floriculture Vegetable Gardening Fruit Culture Canning and Preserving FEES Tuition for the entire course $25.00 One morning or afternoon per wk, 5.XK) Automobile Route East River Drive Wissahickon Drive Lincoln Drive McCallum Street Willow Grove Avenue Church Road Bethlehem Pike Skippack Pike Butler Pike Board and lodging per week $12.00 Registration fee $2. Not transferable. from Philadelphia The School is located on the Old Limekiln Road, near Butler Pike. Trains fcr Ambler leave from Reading Terr. i:iai Philadelphia. Commutation tickets obtainable. Trolleys leave Chestnut Hill (Erdenheim)) every half hour. FOR SALE—Fresh fruits, eggs, poultry, flowers and plants, jams, jellies fruit juices. Ornamentals exclusively distinctive in quality and variety We cater to the most discriminating-trade. ANDORRA NURSERIES Cbetotuc'HillfPii Plant Your Savings NOW! Plant where your funds are safe and plant also where they will grow. The First National Bank of Ambler, Pa. has $2,000,000 in resources. It pays 2 per cent, interest on checking accounts and SV2 per cent, on savings accounts. Wm. H. Faust, Cashier. J. W. CRAFT SONS Ambler, Pa. Manufacturers and Dealers in Scratch and Mash Feed Building Material Fencing Materials Lehigh Coal JOHN DULL FRUIT AND VEGETABLES Butler Avenue Ambler, Pa. HEISS’S Dry Goods, Notions, Millinery Men’s Furnishings 303-305 Butler Ave. Ambler, Pa. LAMPHERE Jeweler Butler Avenue, Ambler, Pa. C. Marvin Riley ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR SUPPLIES All Kinds of Repairs 250 Park Avenue AMBLER, PA. Both Phones MENTION “WISE ACRES.” IT HELPS YOU AND HELPS US. CONTENTS Editorial...................................... 4 Cooperation of British and American Women’s Farm Work............................... 6 Some Ornamental Characters and Seasonal Values of Woody Plants................10 A Promising New Spray Material...............13 Letters........................................14 Social.........................................18 Relish for the Wise 19 WISE-ACRES Vol. VI July, 1920 No. 19 Published Quarterly by the Students of the School of Horticulture for Women, Ambler, Pa.—Elizabeth Leighton Lee, Director Entered at Ambler P. 0. as Second-Class Matter Under Act of March 3,1879. STAFF Editors, Mary B. Merryweather and Mary G. Hubbell Adv. Mgr.. Margaret A. Trimble Asst. Adv. Mgr., Eleanor F. Fullerton Business Manager. Amy R. Thurston One Dollar a Year Single Copy, Twenty-five Cents EDITORIAL The recent interview with Mrs. May Elliot Hobbs, of Kelmscott, England, published in “The Christian Science Monitor” and copied in this issue of Wise-Acres is extremely significant of the times. The question of farm crops harvesting as well as dairy work in inspecting and testing certified milk, etc., has come to be a serious one. The labor of skilled as well as unskilled hands is a serious problem throughout the whole United States, and is, no doubt, one of the causes of the “H. C. L” Sophie Irene Loeb. in the “N. V. World,” went on an investigating tour through the “Empire State” and in an extremely interesting article states that everywhere farm help is needed and there is a demand for women helpers. The farmerettes have “made good” and the farmers would hire more if possible. At one place thirty school teachers spent their holidays working on farms. Naturally, the woman who is a graduate of an agricultural college or school or has had some training along these lines finds no trouble ill securing a better position as assistant or manager in poultry plants, green house work, care and marketing of special crops, small fruits, etc., or floriculture. This is not necessarily heavy or hard work, and for the woman who loves Nature and does not care for confining office work it is a God send. Any woman who cares to make herself an expert will find no trouble in getting into government work. There is plenty of room at the top, and as the love of gardens and country homes seems to be growing by leaps and bounds in America, this enthusiasm for. women in out of door work is shared by many amateurs as well as the woman who makes it a profession. The farm and crop experts at Washington have been urging the necessity of keeping up small home and back- yard gardens and give amazing figures of the enormous amount of food produced during the war on these 4 comparatively small plots. Some of our thrifty neighbors—the Italians, for instance—do not need this admonition as their well kept and tidy little plots show whenever there is a square foot of ground to be utilized. And in the face of this what a dreadful mistake for some of the larger cities to give up the Public School gardens. Wise-Acres is rejoicing in having on its staff Miss Lee, Miss Williams,1 Miss Fullerton, to hear from in Europe; and Miss Exley soon will make a visit td England. Mrs. Peeler, in China, will be heard from. Mrs. Schedin, Class of ’18, and Miss Buckler, ’19, are near by doing interesting things on their own farm—and will contribute. SEND IT IN { If you have a bit of news, Send it in; Or a joke that will amuse, Send it in. Something helpful that is new, Something you have learned to do, We should like to hear from you, Send it in. If it’s only worth the while, Never mind about your style, Send it in. —COPIED. The Juniors have passed their first mid-year exams—the first ordeal. After this there will not be the same anxiety and flutter of hearts. This is their “coming out party” and no debutante was ever more nervous over her first ball. Both Seniors and Juniors have registered some of the highest marks possible this June. The Specials, so happily free of June exams, will have left us by the time this issue of Wise-Acres appears—both Specials and Regulars wishing Specials might be Regulars—and so stay on. SCHOLARSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT The Marion Reilly Scholarship of $200.00 won by Amy R. Thurston, m ’ll), will again, at the end of this year, be awarded to the Junior holding the highest record for class and practical work and loyal school spirit. 5 Cooperation of British and American Womens Farm Work Special to the Christian Science Monitor from its Eastern News Office. NEW YORK, New York—When the English land army was officially demobilized on November 30, there were still about 9000 women engaged in active work on farms, according to Mrs. May Elliott Hobbs, of Kelmscott, England, formerly administrative inspector of the women’s branch of the Board of Agriculture in London. She believes that many more will continue at farm work, as there is real opportunity in it for th,em. In an interview with a representative of 1 he Christian Science Monitor, she said that women had shown themselves particularly capable in the care of young live stock, in dairy work, looking after the production of clean milk and milk products, in inspecting and testing certified milk, and in horticulture. “What, is needed is more training, more opportunK.es for education in colleges, agricultural schools, and in extension work by itinerant teachers. There are many openings for women to do this itinerant teaching, to carry agricultural education right to the doors of persons living in rural communities. CO-OPERATION ADVISED “Then, too, there are opportunities for women to develop cooperation in small places, cooperative dairy projects, and market gardens. Individual effort on small holdings does not amount to much, but cooperative effort, aided by our motor transport system, will be worth while and will bring producer and consumer more closely together. The war gave great impetus to cooperative activities; now we want to establish cooperation between groups of country women and bodies of city women. We have already in England a national federation of women’s institutes, really unions of rural women, self-governing units in parishes, federated into county and national bodies We lock upon them as the most important influence upon the life of the countrv women that has come out of the war, for it was not imposed by city women, but sprang up among the country women themselves, who have organized to promote their own economic and social welfare and to make country life'better so that people will like to stay there and not be continually trying to get away to the city. LAND OPPORTUNITIES “Many women are now taking up small holdings as under the land settlement bill. FVrmer service women have the same facilities as former service men for acquiring land. But in order to make their livings they need education in agricultural work. We are discouraging them from taking up land without that. Just now many wish to emigrate, so the government 6 has appointed commissions of women to visit all the governments to inquire concerning the proper openings for them and to make plans definitely to control emigration fur the good of both the women and the dominions. “The important thing is that we should keep in touch with what other countries are doing along these lines. We think that there should he an interchange of students between this country and England, students of agriculture and horticulture. The Women’s Farm and Garden Association of the United States is now negotiating with the English organization for the establishment of a number of international scholarships in these subjects. “This is particularly necessary just at this moment, as in all countries there is a strong agricultural movement. The importance of food production has made the farmer a much more important person than he was formerly considered. Thus it is necessary to pass around all the knowledge of methods and machinery ossiblc. And w,e are hoping that the International Institute of Agriculture a Rome will be supported and encouraged to extend its work. INTERCHANGE URGED “Other valuable means of keeping all countries in close intimate touch would be the fostering, by departments of agriculture, of visits of commissions and individuals to other countries to study methods pursued in agricultural and horticultural work,” continued Mrs. Hobbs, adding, however, that as large bodies were unwieldly, not more than two persons should be appointed on any one commission to accomplish the most. The rural community, she said, was to be depended on as a stabilizing force in the economic and social development of the country, and not for politics. Women’s institutes must not be mere debating societies, but must work on an economic basis, make more opportunities for earning money, and so help bring about a better social order. And their members, she concluded must strive in every way to make women economically independent as far as possible.—From the Christian Science Monitor. YOUTH Springing joys, swift poignant griefs; Unreckoned faiths, professed unbeliefs, Careless, selfish, swift to rise To the heights of sacrifice; Varn ting petty vanity. Hidden deep humility; Daring heaven, and afraid Of the things himself has made; Prince, who goes alone and proud, Scorning favor of the crowd. Beggar, wandering in dejection; Craving crumbs of Man’s affection : Folly, seeking Wisdom’s wells, Seer, wearing cap and bells; Self-blinded worshipper of Truth ; Wanton, wistful;—such is youth. —DOROTHY BULL 7 The Life of a Butterfly The Monarch is one of our best known butterflies. It is a Southerner and spends its summers in the North. Its wings are a tawny brown with black veinings. In the fall they gather into large flocks and go South. They seem to fly all winter, and in spring they come North singly, some laying their eggs as far north as New Yorkand Minnesota. The butterflies of this brood fly still farther North. Monarchs are very strong fliers, and it is said that in thirty years, by ships, and by long flights, they have spread over nearly all the islands of the Pacific, down to Australia. This is its life history: On August twenty-second, two tiny white eggs were discovered on the under side of a tender milkweed leaf. Under a microscope they showed beautifully regular ridges and hollows. This leaf was shut into a jelly glass and watched more or less carefully. The next day, one egg was lead colored at the tip, and later they had both disappeared. After some searching, two small caterpillars were found. They were a pale, almost transparent, grayish green with shining black heads, two pairs of black filaments or horns, one pair at each end. and black legs. They had probably eaten their shells and were now eating little holes in the leaf. As they grew bigger, they ate entire leaves. By August twenty-fifth they had ten black lines entirely across, and two nearly so. Their bodies were nearly white, and had grown from three thirty-seconds to three sixteenths of an inch long. It was on September third that we first knew of their moulting, tho they probably had done so before. They usually moult four or five times. The little caterpillar stopped feeding for a while, the colors dulled, and finally, with a strong muscular effort, he split his skin just back of the head. It slid down in folds, leaving him wet and tired. His filaments were soft and bent. After a time his horns became straight and hardened, and he was rested and hungry. He turned around and ate his old skin. Such an economical way of disposing of old clothing! It was all gone but the mask, a little transparent face, barred with black, that had dropped into the bottom of the glass. The next day the smaller caterpillar moulted. From this time on, their appetites were enormous, and by September twelfth they were over one and a half inches long. Thy were big, plump caterpillars, white with regular yellow and black transverse stripes, and the two pairs of long black filaments. Their faces were yellow with black bandings. On September fifteenth, one was hanging in his chrysalis. The other had spun a little web on the bottom of the can cover, and fastened his hind pair of prolegs into it. He hung downward in the shape of a “J” and gradually he grew duller and dead looking. The next day, he too had shed his skin, and they both hung there in beautiful pale green bags trimmed with gold buttons. The position of the tiny wings, the body and other parts could be seen thru the thin green covering. 8 October sixth came the next change. One chrysalis became dark, and the brown and black markings of the wings could be seen. The next morning he was found trying to climb a knitting needle, but took kindly to a finger when it was held in the line of his progress, and seemed cpiite at home on the fringed gentian he was carried to. His wings had enlarged, and were a rich, reddish brown, but they were still very soft. He tried to raise them but was not yet strong enough, so he settled down to coil his tongue. This was in two pieces, each being a half tube and had tiny teeth along the edges which fitted together. He patted them together and took them apart many times, once even parting them when he had put them together the entire length. As he worked he coiled and uncoiled it. It was more than half an hour before he had it arranged to his satisfaction, and by this time he was able to raise his wings a little. He refused to eat then, but later he fluttered his wings in excitement and climbed a finger to suck the water from around some grains of sugar. He felt awkwardly around with the long tongue until he found the water, and then sucked it up clean. He was put back on the gentians; and set out-of-doors in a sunny spot, and before sundown, he had flown away. The second one flew before noon the next day, and we hope “they lived happily ever after.” ALICE ARLENE RHODES, ’20. 9 Some Ornamental Characters and Seasonal Values of Woody Plants The trees and shrubs appeal to our sense of beauty and grandeur in many ways; by their size, by their general outlines, and the character and arrangement of their branches; by the color, abundance and duration of their foliage, their texture and the color and character of their bark; by their buds, tlieir blossoms and their fruit, by the birds they attract and by their asociation with our childhood memories. No appreciative person can look upon a large tree, stretching its branches high and wide, without being impressed by it. No responsive person can walk through a forest without a feeling akin to reverence. The trees vary in outline from the almost globular form of the Nor wav-maple, through the white pines, with their pyramidal forms and the dense wliorls of branches with gaps between, and the firs and spruces with their conical outlines, to the irregularity of the old willows and the columnar forms of the Tombardy poplars. And the same tree changes its shape, as it grows. The young elm is vasiform; but it broadens as the years go by, until at full maturity it has a broad rounded top, with arching branches. The sweet cherry and button-wood have central leaders and a regular, rather upright, growth when young, but they become more spreading and lose their trunks in branches, as they grow older. And trees vary in the distinctness of their outlines. Some, as the horse-chestnut, stand out sharply against the sky while others, as the Weir’s cutleaved maple, have a feathery indistinctness. The sharply upward growth of the branches of the Lombardy poplar accentuates its height. The slender, pendant branches of the weeping birch give it an air of fragile gracefulness. The huge shoots of the Hercules Club, when it is bare of leaves, express sturdiness and boldness. We are likely to think of the foliage of the trees and shrubs, as simply green; but it varies greatly in the shade of color. And the general color effect of a tree at a distance maybe very different from that of a leaf in one’s hand. The California privet is a dark green, the red maple a medium green, the pin oak a shining green, the white willow a grayish green, and the native buttonwood a yellowish green. Of course, the health and vigor of the tree or shrub may have a great influence upon its color, the more healthy the tree is, the darker its foliage. There are also nursery grown trees and shrubs with variegated leaves or reddish, purple or yellowish foliage. Such specimens take away from the beauty of their surroundings instead of adding to it, unless they be used very sparingly and skilfully. 'File range of autumn colors, from the green to the crimsons of the oaks, the scarlets of the maples, and the yellows and browns of the beeches, is one of the most beautiful sights that the world affords. The horse chestnut and Norway maple have dense, heavy foliage masses, while that of the ginko or maiden-hair tree drapes rather than covers its trunk and branches, that, like a group of spires, point to the different quarters of the sky. j 10 The mountain laurel, rhododendron and most of our conifers are evergreen ; the buckeye unfolds its leaves in April; and the. catalpa and coffee nut do not show much foliage until late in May. The leaves of the sumach and horse chestnut fall early in autumn; while those of the pin oak are abundant until December, and those of the California privet hang on until nearly spring. The texture of the trees and shrubs is an indefinable something, contributed in some cases by the leaves; in others by the branches, but more frequently by both, that gives them much of their personalities. The huge bipinnate leaves of the Hereul,es Club, and the pinnate ones of the sumach, standing out at right angles to their upright branches, give a bold, sub-tropical effect. The drooping branches of the weeping willow and Tea's mulberry give them their characteristic weeping effect. The spreading branches and fine sprays of the tamarask, with its tiny green or grayish leaves, give it an airy character, that may be brought out attractively by a back ground of denser, darker foliage. One of the interesting sights along the streams of the Eastern States is that of the red birches growing on the brink and leaning over the water with great masses of brownish shredding bark, hanging loosely from their trunks. Equally picturesque are the native buttonwoods, with their whit.e trunks and branches, mottled with olive green and marked with occasional patches of dull brown flaking bark, reflected in the water beneath. The bright branches of the red twigged dogwoods and golden willows and the green of the kerrias are familiar to many of you. But the moosewood, or striped maple, is unexcelled in the coloring of its bark. The trunks and older branches are deep green, daintily streaked with white, while the branchlets are red on the runny side, merging into green on the shady side. The purplish staminatc catkins of the hazels and alders, the huge glossy buds of the horse chestnut and the large fuzzy buds of many of the magnolias add attractiveness during the winter. The little yellow flowers of the Japanese witchhazel unfold in the cold month of February and are followed by the grayish catkins of the pussywillow and quaking aspen at the break of spring. Then come the golden bells, magnolias, lilacs, mock oranges, spiraeas and dentzias, sour wood and varnish trees, althaeas, hydrangeas and the interesting Gordoia, so nearly extinct. And November ends the pageant of bloom with our native witch-hazel. But often the fruit is more ornamental than the flowers themselves. The pale, sulphur-colored blossoms of Thunberg's barberry are not showy; but the bright scarlet berries, hanging on the branchlets until the following spring, do much to liven the winter landscape. The same is true of the corymbs of bright red berries of the high bush cranberry and the dens.e, dark red panicles of the sumach. The shiny black fruits of the white kerria persist for a year: and a haw tree, when load.ed with its brilliant? fruit, is as beautiful as it is in blossom. If you would have humming birds, plant honeysuckles and weigelas; if you would have cat-birds plant shad bushes; if you would have robins, plant cherries and the Russian mulberry; if you would have the birds that winter in the north to make their home near you, plant evergreens and trees and bushes that carry, their fruit through the winter. 11 The trees have personalities. Where can one, tired in mind and body, find a more restful place to lie than under a hemlock tree? How expressive of hospitality and sympathy is the widespreading elm, with its arching branches! But who would go for consolation to the shade of a Lombardy poplar? We may not own one rod of ground, yet the trees and shrubs offer us a wealth of ever-changing beauty and interest, that may be ours, if we hut see and understand it. 1QHN LINDLEY DOAN. i STARS Last year, his service flag with star of blue Hung from my window, gay and brave. Proclaiming proudly to the world that he (and I?) had gone to war Through bitter cold, the blinding snow and biting sleet It beat against the pane, reminding me of him, And looking out I saw—no, not the flag with star of blue— But my boy, “standing his watch” high on the swaying main mast, Trying to pierce the night with brave young eyes, Calling from time to time to those who watched below: “All’s well—All’s well.” Tonight—a golden star shines high in Heaven’s deep sea blue—his star. My boy rests safe within the harbor’s calm. No storm-tossed ship—no lurking shark-like foe, No bitter cold nor cutting winds, nor bugle calls to watch or fight, Can wake him from a sleep so unlike that of youth— I stifle my sobs and still the beating of my heart, To listen, listen, listen. Was it his voice or just the teasing wind that calls: “All’s well, Mother.” MARY GOODWIN HUBBELL. 12 A Promising New Spray Material Since the publication of the formula for what is known as nicotine oleate in th,e “Journal of Economic Entomology,” several preliminary trials have seemed to give both good and indifferent results, but no definite conclusions regarding its usefulness can yet be arrived at. The writer has made tests with this insecticide on several greenhouse plants and can report very satisfactory results as far as his own few experiments are concerned. It seems to be especially effective when emulsified with kerosene, and, unlike ordinary kerosene emulsion, leaves no oily r.esidue on the plant and is less likely to injure the foliage. There is also an advantage in the ease with which it can be prepared. One ounce of oleic acid, commonly known as “red oil ' is mixed with eight ounces of kerosene. In another vessel two ounces of nico fume is mixed with eight ounces of wat.er. The two mixtures are then combined and stirred vigorously, with the result that a creamy white emulsion is formed, which is to be used as the stock solution. This stock solution has been used at the rate of one ounce to two gallons of water on K.entia palms highly infested with Spanish Red scale, with the result that 95 per cent, of the scales were killed and no injury occurred to even the most tender growth after an interval of a month. Palms, orchids and Boston ferns did not show foliage injury. 'This promis.es to be a very promising spray for such pests as the Rhododendron lace bug. wooly aphis and young larvae of the oyster shell scale, elm scale and other soft-bodied insects. It is expected that one of the larger nurseri.es will test its usefulness in control of these pests during the present SUmmer JAS. K. PRIMM, Assistant State Nursery Inspector. 13 Letters Miss Lee sailed for England on the steamer Baltic, of the White Star Line, on May 22nd, arriving in Liverpool ten days later. Her ship letters tell of a pleasant voyage. “I will be really sorry when we reach port, but we have been planning a wonderful trip and have it fairly mapped out now,” she writes. Her companion on the trip is Miss Hilda Loines, of Brooklyn, member of the Council of the Farm and Garden Association, and of the New York Horticultural and Botonical Societies. She is much interested in all progressive horticultural work and thought, and in the object of Miss Lee’s trip—the study of schools and gardens. Another letter written from Chester tells of gardens seen in that vi cinity and of their future plans. On leaving Chester, they were to go to Dublin to see the Botonical Gardens and to visit Sir Horace Plunkett, the well known Irish patriot, who has devoted his life to the rehabilition of Ireland, and who has travelled in this and other countries in search of information and experience which would be of use to this cause. The great increase in agricultural wealth in Ireland owes much to his leadership. Recrossing to Holyhead, a few days will be spent in Wales, then to London where several weeks will be spent in visiting the gardens of that part of England. Among the interesting people to be seen will be Miss Helen Wilmott, who writes about roses, and her garden, and Miss Gertrude Jekyl author of “Home and Garden,” “Old West Surrey,” and other books, who lives in Surrey, between Godaming and Guilford, a wonderful woman who has spent her life in her garden but deserted it during the war to work in munition plants. Now old and spent and almost blind, she can return to her garden. Her house, almost as wonderful as herself, is built of oak beams cut from her own place and of the old Surrey flints; it was designed by Sir ;Edwin Luty.ens, the architect of the New City of Delhi, in India, and many other houses in Surrey, and furnished with old oaken furniture and pewter ware. When Miss Lee returns there will be many things to hear about. She expects to reach Ambler about the middle of August. —EMMA BLAKiSTON. From Miss Exley on her proposed trip to England this summer:— Philadelphia, June 19, 1920. Many thanks for your letter this morning, asking for a little outline of my trip to England for Wise Acres. Thru the American Forestry Association, I have received introduc-rions to Jrmes A. Maco'm, Escp, of Roads of Remembrance Association, London. Roads of Remembrance are being planted thruout the British Isles in memory of the soldiers as we are planting tribute trees in this country. They are interested in our tree markers and some of the shield markers used by the American Forestry Association are being sent over for their inspection. 14 I am also going to tell of the work clone by the Civic Association in the city of Philadelphia. By this means they will learn of the tributes we are paying to the soldiers here and thru the knowledge of these tributes we hope there will be formed a closer bond of sympathy between the two countries. Under present conditions we cannot afford to think only of the esthetic. Intensive horticulture development is an important factor in the production of food to meet the shortage which is likely to occur this year, and one of the most interesting phases of my work will be to look into the means by which they are solving this problem and in the way they are managing the small places and in handling the labor situation, which is equally difficult in all countries today. Many of the beautiful old gardens of England and Scotland are on my list to be visited for the purpose of broadening my knowledge along this line of gardening which fits so well with the present. Very truly yours, EMILY EX LEY. All will be interested to hear that Miss Beatrice Williams is now with the A. E. F. in France. She is at present on a small farm just outsid,e of Paris, where she is finding much enjoyment in raising a flock of chickens. (Letter from Eleanor Fullerton, ’21, who is on leave of absence to act as private secretary to her father while he is in France as an expert agriculturist for the American Committee for Devastated France.) Hotel Star, Paris, May 16, 1920. Dear Wise Acres: 1 can’t tell you so much of interest after all, because we have been stalled here in Paris for two weeks and we don’t get out to Blerancourt until the 19th. We have been on a trip up beyond Ainzy-le-Chateau to see the big plateau supposed to be an absolute agricultural impossibility. It is full of barbed wire and duds and shell holes, but they are so covered with clover and grass and flowers that there is no fun in it. If nature would grow wild things, whv can’t a Frenchman grow anything he pleases? The folks here see that now so they have decided that our job is not there. Hence we are to have a little garden in Blerancourt and use Planet Jrs. exclusively and try to show the people how they can save a liftle time and energy. It is almost amusing to see them using “Scriptural methods,” as Dad calls them. Well, after we have run our little Planet Jrs. back and forth for a week or so we are going on a tour of the regions of the Aisne and the Somme and wherever else we can see “bad land” and territory supposed to be impossible. We expect to come back—I should say “go” back laden with photographs and detailed accounts of all we have seen. 15 We are fearfully handicapped by being unable to speak French. We may be violently interested in a subject and crazy to know what the other fellow thinks about it, but when one can only say “tres bien” and “il fait beau” conversation languishes. Now I shall proceed to relate what we saw on that trip to Vauxaillon —in more or less detail. The villages are being slowly rebuilt and the people are being taken care of as best possible. They are living in dugouts in places still or in bare shelters, but before another year has passed 1 think they will be fairly well taken care of. They are clearing their small bits of land and planting their market garden crops as usual. There are many little grain fields, and it is startling at first to see a military grave or a pile of unused shells in the centre of a field. Of course, the roadsides are pretty well lined with barbed wire that has been cleared out, and there are filled-in trenches—and some that are not filled in—and shell holes everywhere. But they will go in time. The biggest change one notices in going into the devastated regions from the outskirts of Paris is the rough and unkempt look of the land. There are fields that are painfully ragged and left to wild growth and the trees are half dead or entirely gone—a thing not to be tolerated in prosperous France. There the very forests are clear and carefully taken care of—“Nature’s pruning being supplemented by Man’s”—and an untilled field is an unseen thing. The farther on you go the more noticeable this is. The little plots that are under cultivation are as neat and carefully tended as any in the country, but they are so few compared to amount of territory. Wherever there is a home, of any size or kind, there are flowers. Brilliant peonies and poppies and pansies and spicy pinks and wisteria vines, and wherever there is a wall or a fragment of a wall there are grape vines trained over it with all the care ever expended on the wonderful specimens in the Luxembourg Gardens. The fruit trees are pitiful. Most of them are either dead or in pretty bad shape. Of course, there are many orchards that were destroyed by the Huns—nothing left but rows of stumps—but there are a great many full of wonderful old, beautifully trained trees simply girdled and left there standing, dead. It means the loss of so many years and so much care and work that it is appalling. Don’t you folks worry about the condition of the soil on the battlefields. The French experts have been talking for a ‘year and a half about top soil and bottom soil and poisons in the soil and gases and chemical actions, and they can talk till doomsday, but such alfalfa and clover and grass and flowers I never saw as are growing on that battlefield in the centre of the Chemin des Dames. And at this time of year, the field is just full of Star of Bethlehem—I would much rather think of them growing on the battlefield than the poppies, wouldn't you ? It gives you a feeling of reverence and perfect content that the poppies don’t bring to your mind. I was glad to find them there. I wish you all could have seen the seed gardens of the Vilmorin’s outside of Paris. Houses full of calceolarias and fields of poppies and pansies and sweet peas, and a huge rock garden and wonderful old trees and—well, it’s the most wonderful place I have seen yet. Miss Nicolson would love it, as you all would. Loyally yours, ELEANOR FULLERTON. 16 (Extract from a letter from Mrs Peeler, Shanghai, China.) March 26, 1920. Last week was an eventful one. We had Dr. C. T. Wang and Mr. Szu and four Americans to a formal Chinese dinner. Dr. Wang is a marvel. He is the most popular, most hated, the most loved man in South China and cannot you see how the shivers of excitement ran down my spine when I saw peering through the butler’s pantry window a secret service man dressed au natural, but with a bludgeon under his coat? He follows Dr. Wang about, carries no firearms, but is a skilled boxer and jiu jitsu man. Well, to return to the Chinese dinner, which was the most thrilling. It was prepared by a Chinese caterer Mr. Fitch and I came downstairs at 7.16 to see if the table was all right, and what was our horror to see that a sheet, stiffly starched, was on the table. We got busy and had the thing whisked off and the bare table used, as being more ceremonious. No doilies or napkins are used. Chopsticks cf ivory were at each place (I whispered to my Boy to slip me a fork.) In front of each place was a silver dish containing roasted watermelon seeds and almonds. In the middle of the table a large dish of shrimps and green peas (imagine eating peas with chopsticks), and around this dishes of soy sauce, mustard and another sweet soy sauce, very good. Small plates of thinly sliced ham and bits of pork and dried fish were conveniently placed. Mr. Szu took his chopsticks and helped me to shrimp and peas, then himself, and proceeded to eat, and thereafter he took his chopsticks and helped me first from each new course. And if you felt a great longing for a special bit in the middle of the dish, it is very stylish to reach over and take it out and eat it and take another if you wish. Now to eat peas with chopsticks takes so much mental concentration of a high order, that conversation lagged for a time, because crises were always imminent. After this came duck skin sandwiches and stewed conch ; then four kinds of noodles deliciously boiled in beef broth with finely minced ham on top as a garnish. In front of our plate was placed a cup of delicate broth, flavored in some mysterious way; into this cup you put your noodles and eat as much as you can with chopsticks, then use a bowl-shaped, long-handled spoon, for as my Chinese friend said: “I never eat soup with chopsticks.’' This handsome and charming Chinese is a Harvard graduate. He was dressed like the Americans, while Dr. Wang wore Chinese clothes, a handsome long dress-like affair to his heels of brocade made alone and a short top coat of heavy stiff black satin with the usual long sleeves coming below the finger tips, to use as a muff when outdoors. Then came the chafing dish, which originated in China. It is called the Chrysanthemum Flower Pan. and heated with alcohol. The copper makes the flame blue, yellow and green. The host puts into this pan, which contains chicken broth, slices cf chicken breast, beef kidney, liver, mushrooms, render green pea vines, bamboo sprouts, spinach, water chestnuts, dumplings and shark’s fins. It was a good dish. Next we had dessert, a Precious Pudding, of glutinous rice and seven fruits, and a cup of sauce flavored with almond and containing dragon’s eyes, a tiny dumpling of red rice paste and brown sugar centres. It was delicious. I thought that was the end, but we commenced all over again, with pigeon’s eggs in broth (I speared mine and took it at one awful leap ) and bamboo pith, salad of peas, apple and orange. It took us two hours and a half, but it was worth it. CAROLINE G. PEELER. 17 Social TUESDAY AFTERNOON TEAS Mrs. Edith Ellicott Smith, Chairman of the Land Army Committee. Pennsylvania League of Women Workers, spoke on “Opportunities for Women in Agriculture” on April 13. She told some of her very interesting personal experiences in farming and fruit growing. Mr. John C. Wisher, President of the new Iris Society, visited the school May 4. He told us of his trip thru French and English nurseries and gardens, showing very entertaining slides. He also brought some specimens of flowers from his own garden. He emphasized the fact that many of the finest peonies, iris, lilacs and other flowers have been originated by French plant breeders. Miss Margaret Law, a former student of the school, was here May 18, and spoke on her work in France. She has just recently returned, and told us some very entertaining experiences. Miss Emma Blakiston, on April 21, gave us an extra lecture on Americanization. It was well illustrated. A number of visitors were here to enjoy it and the tea which followed. The Seniors entertained the Faculty, Juniors and Specials at a “childrens” party, April 9. Appropriate decorations were used. The games played were farmer in the dell, winkium, and ring around a rosy. Ice cream cones, lolly pops and animal crackers were served at an early hour. The Delaware Valley Naturalists’ Union met at the school on Saturday, the fifteenth of May. After luncheon in the woods, they visited our various departments, including the greenhouses, poultry, jam kitchen and bees. In the afternoon. Miss Lee gave a most interesting talk on the foundation of the School of Horticulture and its work since, and was followed by Mr. Doan, who spoke on the ornamental characteristics and seasonal values in woody plants. We all agreed with Mr. Pennypacker, the “President of the Union,” who in thanking Mr. Doan, referred to the characteristic beauty of his descriptions as those of a “prose poem.” Mr. Doan’s address appears in this issue. 18 Relish for the Wise The “cub reporter” came out recently to “cover” a lecture and was naturalliy interested in “chickens”—so he talked chicken to one of our most attractive. The incubation and brooder houses interested him immensely but he had a brilliant idea about the heat. “Now”, he said, “if you keep the heat up to 103 degress for three weeks, why couldn’t you run it up to 240 degress and get them out in less time?” Because we do not like hard boiled eggs, was the demure reply. “I hear she is interested in forestry.” “Yes; to the extent that she always pines to look spruce.” —AMBLER TRUST BULLETIN. LAUNDRY NOTES There was an announcement received from “Hannah” not long ago that she wished all the young ladies would come for their clothes, as she was going to cook cabbage. E. L. M. 19 Headquarters For The Best Quality SEEDS PLANTS BULBS AND HORTICULTURAL SUPPLIES For eighty-two years we have been furnishing our goods to most critical buyers, and are in a position to fill your orders for anything pertaining to the Garden, Greenhouse, Lawn and Farm, including Vegetable and Flower Seeds, Lawn Grass Seeds, Farm Seeds, Garden Implements, Fertilizers, Insecticides, Lawn Mowers,. Lawn Rollers, etc. Also Plants of all kinds, including the choicest varieties of Roses, Dahlias, Hardy Perennials, etc., all of which are fully described in DREER’S GARDEN BOOK FOR 1920 together with useful cultural notes for the amateur gardener. Call or Write for a copy—FREE HENRY A. DREER, 714-716 Chestnut St., Phila. i S. S. GEHMAN H. J. DAGER Furniture Bedding and House Furnishings REAL ESTATE Ambler, Pa. Ambler, Pa. I. K. B. HANSELL INSURANCE Notary Public Auto Licenses Ambler, Pennsylvania J. M. KIRK Sanitary Plumbing Gas and Steam Heating Pumping Machinery of all kinds. Windmills, Gas Engines, Etc. Office: 304 Butler Avenue Both Phones Ambler, Pa. MENTION “WISE ACRES.” IT HELPS YOU AND HELPS US. The School of Horticulture for Women AMBLER, PENNSYLVANIA Special Spring Course of Twelve Weeks Vegetable Gardening School Gardening Canning and Preserving Landscape Gardening FEES Fruit Growing Poultry Bees Floriculture Tuition for Entire Course $75.00 Floriculture (two periods per week) 23.00 Vegetable Gardening (two periods per week) 23.00 Any subject (one period per wfc. 12.00 Board $10.00 per week. Lodging $2 to $4 per week. Registration fee $5. Not transferable. August Course Floriculture Vegetable Gardening Fruit Culture Canning and Preserving FEES Tuition for the entire course $25.00 Board and lodging per week $12.0C One morning or afternoon per wk, 5.00 Registration fee $2. Not transferable. Automobile Route East River Drive Wissahiekon Drive Lincoln Drive McCallum Street Willow Grove Avenue Church Road Bethlehem Pike Skippack Pike Butler Pike from Philadelphia The School is located on the Old Limekiln Road, near Butler Pike. Trains for Ambler leave from Reading Terminal, Philadelphia. Commutation tickets obtainable. Trolleys leave Chestnut Hill (Erdenheim)) every half hour. FOR SALE—Fresh fruits, eggs, poultry, flowers and plants, jams, jellies fruit juices. Toilet Creams Lotions Cuticle Food delightfully perfumed for rough and injured skin. Price 63c. Rose Pomatum (Royale) for cleansing and refreshing hands and face after exposure to weather. Price 78c. Our aim is to supply thoroughly dependable and honestly made products. Send for folder of all Grist Toilet Preparations. Mail orders promptly attended to. Bessie P. Grist 119 So. 17ih St. Phila., Pa. Good Drugs—Results Good We Know Enough jihout DRUGS To Give You the Best Stillwagon s Drug Store COLLIER’S GOOD TAXI SERVICE Phone, Ambler 114-W Ambler, Pa. “I saw your ad in Wise Acres” Tell our advertisers when answering advertisements. It’s just a little thing that helps us. CONTENTS Miss Lee’s Trip.............................. 4 Hardy Chrysanthenums......................... 7 Washing Birds for Shows......................11 Extracts from Miss Williams’ Letter..........13 Beautiful English Gardens....................15 French Gardening............................ 17 Announcements................................18 Relish for the Wise....................... .19 3 WISE-ACRES Vol. VI October, 1920 No. 20 Published Quarterly by the Students of the School of Horticulture for Women, Ambler, Pa.—Elizabeth Leighton Lee, Director Entered at Ambler P. O. as Second-Class Matter Under Act of March 3.1879. STAFF Editors, Mary B. Merryweather and Mary G. Hubbell Adv. Mgr.. Margaret A. Trimble Asst. Adv. Mgr., Eleanor F. Fullerton Business Manager, Amy R. Thurston One Dollar a Year Single Copy, Twenty-five Cents “Wise-Acres” is fortunate—Miss Elinor Fullerton is chosen editor-in-chief for next year—and also the treasurer reports that the paper is in good financial condition. The object of the School of Horticulture is horticulture as a profession for women either out in the world or on their own places, large or small—so anything pertaining to this subject will always be welcomed by the school paper. We are all interested in Miss Lee’s visit to England and Ireland last June and July- Miss Lee kindly consents to tell of it in this issue of “Wise-Acres” and th,e next. The first account follows: A blast—a deafening and prolonged blast—from the ship’s fog horn announced that the “Baltic” was pulling out of the dock in New York harbor, and that in ten days' time, if all went well, she would dock at Liverpool. On June 1st, true to schedule, she pulled into the Liverpool dock. At v o’clock breakfast, and then a long wait while the luggage was being taken oft, everyone hanging over the rail—not for the purpose that they had assumed that attitude in mid-ocean—but watching with horror and dismay the toboggan slide of 75 feet or more from the ship to the dock, down which their precious luggage would soon in its turn take its winged flight! Then a scramble on the dock to find the section where the initial letter of one’s last name appears on the post or wall, and a forlorn hope that under that letter by some miracle one’s worldly goods would be found intact. And they generally w.ere! No trouble with the custom house officials, as their minds were centered on sugar and tobacco, neither of which we carried. It would not have been a bad idea, however, to have a little of the former, as in several places we were told that the house did not furnish sugar. If on,e wanted it the proper thing to do was to go to the Town Hall and obtain a traveller’s license for its purchase. A householder also had to have a permit and was allowed only so much. The same thing happened in England with regard to the sugar 4 supply as had happened in.the United States. The government failed to buy up a foreign crop before the speculators got hold of it, and a corner in sugar and high pric.es resulted. I had been commissioned by the president of the board of directors of the School of Horticulture to visit and report upon the various schools of gardening for women which exist in England, as well as to report upon conditions pertaining to women in horticultural work. In connection with the latter we visited a number of beautiful estates and gardens and met many interesting people Miss Hilda Loines, my traveling companoin, member of the Council oi the Woman’s Farm and Gard.cn Association of America, and I, a member of the association, had also been appointed as delegates from that association to the Women’s Farm and Garden Union of England, with which the American society is affiliated. It would be impossible to expr.ess our appreciation of the great kindness shown to us by our English neighbors. Largely through the efforts and interest of the charming secretary of the Farm and Garden Union, Mrs. Miles Benson, and her office, many invitations w.ere extended to us, and an interesting itinerary planned for part of our stay. The members of the Union were delightfully cordial, and I hope it may be my good fortune to be given th.i opportunity to show hospitaltiy to many of them in America. H. R. H. the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, sister of King Edward, is the president of the English society, and on our arrival in London a tea was given for us by the club, and the Princess received us. This was, of course, a great honor and gave us a splendid introduction. We had previously b.een instructed as to our manner of presentation to the Princess, but we were particularly struck with the simplicity of the arrangements and with her cordiality and friendliness. She laughingly declined a large arm chair which had'been prepared for b.er and preferred to make no distinction between her kind of chair and ours! She expressed herself as much interested in a suggestion that at some future date an .exchange scholarship of some sort between the English schools and ours might be arranged. Tffe only ceremonial attached to the interview was that we should curtesy on being pr.e sented and address her as “M’Am'’! Never “Madam” we were ,told! The light was in our ey.es as we entered the reception room and a lady in black, with a black lace picture hat, stepped forward right by the door and cordially shook hands. After we had been talking to her for a minute it dawned upon us both that we were talking to the Princess hers,elf and alas! we had made no curtsey! That we were forgiven we felt sure, as sh.e chatted pleasantly‘while we sat either side of her drinking tea and eating delicious sandwiches and strawberries, such, as I believe on y England can grow . She made several suggestions to us as to places to visit, and subsequently sent us an invitation to the Royal Gardens at Frogmore, Windsor Castle; and on hearing that we were at the Rose Showr of the Royal Horticultural Society the afternoon that slu-was there, included 11s among the fewr who were taking tea with her that afternoon. This was on the suggestion of Miss Ellen WiTmott, I belie v? who had been acting as guide to the Princess. 5 Miss Ellen Willmott is now one of the .leading authorities in England upon all sorts of horticultural subjects. She has a wonderful place not far from London, at Brentwood in Essex. We had the good fortune to be entertained by Miss Willmott at tea and supper, and herNgenerous invitation was extended for the night also. ‘‘The Gardens of Warley Place are regarded as a Mecca by all plant lovers” “Miss Willmott’s collec- tion of living plants including varieties as well as species probably exceeds one hundred thousand.” She showed us her nursery where she propagates shrubs and trees to perpetuate her interesting collection. The place was at one time the property of John Evelyn, the “diarist.” He first laid out the gardens and planted the chestnuts and walnuts which are still there. As he sold it in 1655 these trees claim,'great age- Miss Willmott has developed and added to the gardens, and knows every stick and stone, bush, tree, flower and herb on th,e place. Her rock garden is one of the loveliest 1 have seen. A sunken garden with an informal outline and irregular paths and stones ov.er which the rock plants climb, droop, form a mat or stand sturdily as is their habit, with a pool of water, also irregular in outline, at the base. It is hard to confine'oneself to one’s subject. I could write a whole paper on rock gardens in England. But 1 must mention one or two more things about Miss Willmott. She has had a number of plants named for her. The tulip Miss Ellen Willmott we all know, late, pale yellow and a lov.ely combination with the Darwin tulips Rev. Ewbank (lilac) and Clara Butt (pink). The little campanula Miss Willmott, just the thing for a rock garden, a mass of blue bells close to the ground in a mat' of color, we saw at a number of places. There is also a lovely potentilla, Miss Willmott, intense scarlet. Miss Willmott has written a most valuable book on the “Rose,” with profuse illustrations. It is a rare and valuable book and embraces all that one could wish to know on the subject. lt is selling for . 1 hope very much that some copies can be sold in this country, as Miss Willmott has been financially hampered by the war and the high taxes. A copy of it is now at the Farm and Garden ofnce in New York, 414 Madison avenue, and may be seen there. Miss Gertrude Jekyli at Godaiming is a well-known and delightful writer on gardening. Her house, as everyone knows who has read her books, is built from timber cut on her own place, and all the beams are adzed by hand. The charming house is so well hidden rrom the road that it took us some time to discover it, and we finally entered on a venture a small gate, almost entirely hidden by shrubs. Penetrating through the shrubs for only 10 or 15 fe,et we found ourselves almost at the door of a low gray house with many interesting gables. We spent a long-to-be-remembered afternoon going over the place with her. We saw the long border she describes in her book and it was indeed lovely. The piace is divided by hedges into gardens for different seasons, and various effects—the wild garden, the spring garden, the garden of herbs. At both Miss Willmott’s and Miss JekylTs we saw a campanula which was new to us and verv effective—Campanula Lactifiora—a inll plant 5 to 6 feet high, pale pinkish lilac in color and he main flower stalk “Hied like a candelabra- We saw this aiso at Frogmore. 6 Miss Jekyll, although she says she is an old woman, walks with a vigorous step, and is still laying out gardens and writing books. One of her clients came in while we were there and she had to leave us to show her plans. Miss Jekyll has also felt the pinch of the war very keenly. We noticed the effects of the war very often in tffe fact that the gardens in many places had become somewhat overgrown from lack of labor. Weeds had crept in and plants which should have be,en divided had been left to themselves. Very little was said about it, the condition had gone on too long to be commented upon. At Frogmore, in the royal gardens they lacked about 40 men. They had had women during the war and the gardener had found them very satisfactory. I gathered from his manner that there was something in the labor sitaution which prevented his employing them at present. (To Be Continued.) ELIZABETH LEIGHTON LEE. AUTUMN Keen, live air, with a tang of frost And a hint of Winter storms, Royal meadows, all purple and gold, And wee, living things in swarms. The tree-covered hills, all burning red. Or glowing russet and gold, And everywhere a song of joy— Oh, Nature knows how to grow old! HARDY CHRYSANTHEMUMS By JOHN C. WISTER The Hardy Chrysanthemum is one of the most important of our garden flowers because it brightens up our gardens when all our other flowers have been killed by frost, and it is easily grown and kept from year to year. Plants may be propagated inthe garden by division ; or whole clumps may be taken from the garden in December, and placed in a cold frame, and brought into th greenhouse about the 15th of January or the first of February. Such plants will produce good cuttings by the first or fifteenth of March. Oniy strong cuttings two or three inches long should be taken and if greenhouse conditions are good all of them should root within five or six weeks. They may then be potted in two and one-half inch pots, placed first in the greenhouse ; then hardened in frames and afterwards planted in the garden as danger of frost is over early in May. These plants should have one pinching when four or five inches high, either before or after setting in the open ground and should be pinched once or twice more to make the growth stocky, once in June and once in July, preferably not later than the middle of July. If this is done most varieties will not need staking. The plants should be well cultivated and kept growing fast. For slight infestation of aphides, a simple syringing with water may be sufficient, but if such attacks continue the plants should be sprayed occasionally. 7 with some tobacco solution, such as “Black Leaf 40”. This is also recommended for the new chrysanthemum midge. In dry seasons the plants are benefited, by occasional heavy waterings, and they can, if desired, be given liquid fertilizer such as liquid manure or a weak solution of nitrate of soda, or dried blood, once in September and perhaps again in early? October, but this is not at all necessary. When the blooming season is over the tops should be cut and burned and the plants mulched lightly with straw, strawy manure or pine bows. The so-called September blooming varieties will come to bloom in the middle States in ordinary seasons about the first of October and last for several weeks, and as they fade the usual Pompon varieties will be coming in, and they will be at their best early in November, and should last until the 20th of November or even later, according to the season. The length of the season and the profusion of the flowers depends upon the weather, the white or pink varieties being easily hurt by heavy rainstorms or frost, while yellow and bronze varieties will stand a great deal of bad weather without being injured. 1'he matter of having good chrysanthemums, therefore, comes down to a large number of varieties suited to individual requirements. The American nurseries today offer several hundred varieties of chrysanthemums under the head of “Hardy Chrysanthemums,” “Hardy Pompon Chrysanthemums,” “Hardy Out-Door Chrysanthemums.” and do other headings, but it is unfortunately true that most of these varieties are not? at all suited to the ordinary garden. The older of these varieties are of foreign origin, and some of them are more suited to foreign climates than to ours, and the newer varieties are the work of painstaking breeding by American florists, who have made great advances in the beauty of this flower; it is apparently not realized, however, by most gardeners that this breeding has most unfortunately been done for the sake of growing more beautiful varieties which the florists may sell as cut flowers, rather than with the idea' of giving us plants better suited to garden culture. The breeding has necessarily been carried on under glass, as chrysanthemums, to all practical purposes, will not produce seed outdoors in this climate. Therefore the florist has grown them almost entirely under glass, choosing from his seedings those which appear to be the most beautiful or the best growers, or which, bloom at a season when the demand for cut flowers is particularly good. In making this long explanation I wish to point out that in most cases our florists have failed to produce plants suited to garden use, not because they are incapable of producing such plants, but became they happen to be producing plants for a totally different purpose. This will continue until the gardeners of America demand better varieties for their gardens and make it worth while for the florist to grow them. A visit to any chrysanthemum specialist or to a wholesale flower market in chrysanthemum season will convince one that the florists’ achievements with the small flowered chrysan- •� themum have been splendid, yet when these same varieties are grown under out-door conditions nine out of ten times they will be a disappointment. Some of the florists’ varieties like “Diana” and “Fairy Queen” will have their delicate texture ruined by the! first rain storm or frost, so that it is hardly more than twice in a ten-year period that they are seen in profusion outdoors. This applies unfortunately to nearly all the beautiful single, semi-double and anemone flowered varieties ; other beautiful varieties of the greenhouse like “Julia Lagravere” and “Souvenir d’Or” bloom so late that they can never be 8 depended upon outdoors. The selection of varieties for an unprotected outdoor garden, therefore, should not for the most part, include singles or delicate white or pink varieties or any of the very late varieties. From the many hundreds of varieties which are offered it is not easy to make a selection which will meet with approval in different gardens. But in order to illustrate the points that 1 have been making I will name some of the varieties which have done very well with me. Of late years we have heard much of the September blooming section, but though I have tried thirty or forty of these varieties I have never known any of them to bloom well in September. The best of those I have tried are “Normandy,” a light pink, which comes about the first of October. Good companions to it are “Jack Bannister,” yellow, and “L’Argentullais,” crimson, all of which bloom freely, are excellent to cut and which last until the fifteenth or twentieth of October. “Provence,” a deep pink, and “Goachers Crimson” are even more beautiful, but a little later, and of novelties “Yellow Normandie” seems the best. None of these early blooming varieties are reliably hardy with me; in fact, I may say, that in my own experience no chrysanthemum, except “Baby” and “Brown Bessie” of which 1 shall speak later is hardy in my garden. I lost about ninety per cent, of all my plants last winter, and in ordinary winters I always lose between ten and twenty-five per cent, and this loss does not seem to? be much affected by mulch or non-mulch, or by the age of the plants. Following the early flowering section come the early varieties of pompons. Among the best of these with me is “Overbrook” (syn “Zenobia”) and “Jersey Beauty,” yellow. These varieties bridge the gap between the so-called September blooming varieties and the big mass of outdoor chrysanthemums which, are at their best outdoors in Philadelphia early in November. Of all the white varieties 1 have tried, only one “Maid of Kent,” will stand beating rains or frosts without turning its color, and it is now the only white variety that I grow. It can by no means, be called a good variety, as; the plant always requires staking and the flower-stems often are not good, but it blooms fromvear year, no matter what the weather. We need a white variety with the beauty of “Diana” which will stand outdoor conditions; I do not believe that “White Lilian Doty” is going to be any more valuable in this respect than any of its greenhouse predecessors. In pink “Lilian Doty” has been very much advertised during the last few years. In 1916 and 1919 it was magnificient, but 1 still fear it will not prove satisfactory in bad seasons, and I shall want to test it further before recommending' it. One of the best pinks that I have tried is “Donald,” a flower of beautiful form which seems to stand the weather pretty well. “Rosinante” is also a good flower, but a poor grower, and is often winter killed. The strongest growing of the pinks is “Betty,” but the flower is sometimes a little coarse. These few together with one of my own seedlings are the only pinks I am now growing and I do not consider that pink is a necessary color in the November garden, for at that time of year bronze and yellow are much more harmonious with nature. Of the many good yellows I have already mentioned “Overbrook,” and “Jersey Beauty,” following them comes one of the best of the newer varieties. “Golden Climax,” a dwarf stocky plant with a splendidly shaped flower of good color. With it I lik.e to grow a mid-late variety “Golden Mine. Martha” an old-fashioned variety which came to me under the name of “Mrs. Snyder.’ which is the latest of the satisfactory outdoor varieties, and which has quite 9 large (lowers. “Baby” I do not consider worth growing as it will not come into bloom until about the twentieth or twenty-fifth of November and it is then destroyed by hard storms. Of the lighter golden bronzes “Golden Harvest is a little small flower and “Allentown” a taller growing variety with larger flowers, one of the most beautiful of all, but unfortunately tender Passing to the bronze colors the most beautiful is May Suydam, by no means a new variety, but one which is not as well known as it should be. The golden center is sometimes a little blackened by an early frost, but in a day or two new (lowers open which have not been hurt, so that I do not consider the criticism which I made about the white flowers holds against it, although technically it is not frost proof. The best of all the bronze varieties for garden planting is “Brown Bessie,” an old standby, known everywhere. No amount of bad weather appears to hurt it and as I mentioned above is absolutely hard . With “Brown Bessie” I grow also “Prince Victor,” and a sport of “Sunset” which originated in my own garden, which I have called “Vernon.” The varieties I have mentioned give a continuous bloom from about October 1 almost until Thanksgiving. Some of the pompon varieties if cut when fresh will last as long as three weeks in water. For those who wish later flowers a bed of chrysanthemums planted in a deep frame so that they can be covered with glass or covers to keep off frost, can be kept in bloom until the first week in December, and it is in such frames that the later varieties like “Julia Lagra-vere” should be grown. The varieties I have named are practically all I have left of the more than three hundred varieties I have tested during! the' last 15 years. Of late years I have added practically no new ones as most of the novelties being placed on the market do not seem to be suited for outdoor culture. 1 hope that the time may soon come when some breeder will find it worth while to breed first for hardiness and vigor of plant, and secondly for hardiness of texture of flower, to makd it stand rain and frost for it is these attributes that our garden chrysanthemums need, rather than improvement of form and texture. FAIRY CLOAKS Fairy raiment, spun by fairy weavers, Spread upon the grass when it is done, Waiting for the little fairy owners, Who will come with rising of the sun. They will come a’dancing down the sunbeams. Eager for their rainbow-colored gowns. They will find them where the weavers left them. On the fields or on the sloping downs. Little sunrise fairies, cloaked in gossamer. You will find them only at the dawn, Floating in the mists of early morning—• When the world has wakened they are gone. 10 WASHING BIRDS FOR SHOWS The time for preparing birds for the Fall and Winter poultry shows has already begun. Many breeders of small flocks have prize-winning birds, but for some reason have the hallucination that showing is for the � ig breeders. If more of the small flock breeders could only be induced Lo exhibit, the larger breeders would have to cease living on their reputations. Many big poultry breeders travel hundreds of miles looking over small (locks buying up birds to exhibit. In order to compete in the shows there are several things which can be done to birds to make them look their best and place success within ieach. It is generally understood at the present time that all white birds going into the show room are washed, and that birds othef than white may be either washed, dry cleaned, or entered “naturally” as takes the fancy of the exhibitor. Just previous to washing, the birds must be coop trained to exhibit to the best advantage. A judge enjoys handling quiet birds but will seldom tolerate sciuawky, irritable birds. Coop training consists of cooping the show specimens in exhibition coops off and on for approximately two weeks previous to the show date, handling them and shaping them up so that they will stand quietly in an attractive position.. Birds must be washed and dried in a room with a temperature between eight)' and ninety degrees. Four tubs are necessary, ivory or cas tile soap, a small brush, (a nail brush is excellent) and plenty of hot. soft water. An assistant to hold and rinse the birds is a great advantage. The water in tub 1 should be at blood heat or slightly warmer. Tub. 2 the same, tub 3 luke warm, and tub 4 cool, but not cold. Dip a bird to be washed in tub I. being sure to hold his feet and wings firmly until his desire to struggle is over. Be careful not to hold the bird so deeply in the water that its head is held under—it is easy to overlook this. Move the feathers carefully until they are thoroughly soaked, as the danger of breaking is very great when the feathers are dry, then take a cake of soap and rub it over the bird’s feathers, working up a good lather with the brush. The brush must be rubbed with the web, never against. After going completely over the bird, face included, (many leave this unwashed for fear the victim wont enjoy it) dip and repeat the soaping and brushing. When every bit of dirt is removed, rinse in tub 2, quickly ducking the bird’s head under water and out again, then rinse in tubs 3 and 4. If working alone it is most convenient to hold the bird’s head toward the person washing; if with an assistant, toward the assistant. In rinsing, hold the wings with the left hand and the legs with the right hand to avoid being splashed. If people care to blue their birds, bluing should be added to tub 4 in a very minute quantity. However, bluing is fast becoming obsolete and bleaching with chemicals is known to be more commonly used. It is best to avoid the use of chemicals by feeding possible show birds on white corn and using shaded runs so no “brassiness” will appear. 11 If possible, place the birds in wire bottomed cages to dry, but if not easily procurable, the floors in solid bottomed cages may be covered with white cloth to keep the birds clean and absorb the water. It is well to fan the tails of both males and females after they have partially dried. With males it keeps the sickle feathers from twisting, and with females tends to keep the tail from pinching. •Leave the birds in the drying room for about twenty-four hours, then gradually cool the room to the ordinary temperature. Before shipping to the show room, the legs and feet must be manicured, an orangewood stick being useful. Sweet oil is seldom used to polish the legs and beak at the present time as it always collects dust no matter how carefully rubbed off. Instead, polish with a soft cloth. Judge? have decided preferences. If it is absolutely impossible for you to show this year, visit the show where you will exhibit next year and find out what kind of a bird the judge likes. A good judge usually judges at certain shows each year. —GERTRUDE M. BUCKLER. “MY DOG, HE LOVES THE SUNRISE—” My dog, he loves the sunrise In Winter, Spring and Fall; But on the Summer mornings He loves it best of all. He sits up on his haunches And looks far toward the East, He gazes long and solemnly, Like some old Sun God’s priest. I wonder what he sees there, Perhaps he wants to go And find some old-time playmates— Sun Dogs he used to know. —ELEANOR F. FULLERTON, '21. 12 EXTRACTS FROM MISS WILLIAMS' LETTER Miss Beatrice Williams’ friends will be glad to hear that she has been doing excellent work in France under the American Committee for Devastated France- The following extracts from one of her letters gives a clear idea of her work: Villeneuve la Havee Seine et Marne July 16, 1920. I arrived in Paris Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon I was speeding down to the Aisne all by myself in a train (I don’t just mean that I was the only person in th,e train, France hasn’t been quite so de-peopled as that— I was unaccompanied). In the morning I had found my way to the tailors to order my much-talked-of uniform. Paris seemed very big—and I felt very young (an odd sensation for me). In the train I had th,e great fortune to meet two of the committee and in some way we began talking. My destination was Laon, where I was very cordially received and duly thrilled at really’ being in the Paye devastes. Laon upper, where the house is, was not touched. The following aft.ernoon we went humpty-hump over impossible roads in a camionette to Anizy. We were ‘‘en panne” a little, but that was remedied by a very competent chauffeure (f.eminine). Our truck at school was a limousine compared to the wear and tear of the camionettes. Anizy is quite the most backward and worst devastated of the centres. In the old days it was Anizy le Chateau, but nothing remains of the Chateau but the cellars. Our barracks are just beside it, but they weren’t up then. It certainly was every' word of devastated France. Nothing but ruins and mud every place and hardly any human beings. However, th,e Comite habitues were very cheerful and optimistic and saw wonderful possibilities. Our search for cellars for incubators was in vain. Miss ----------- arranged for a camionette to come for me at Anizy to take me to Vic for the night, as it was ther.e the chicken work had been carried on last year. It was a marvelous ride, perfectly heavenly country and all, of course, sacr.ed to the war.' We had tea at the renowned Blerancout, though its three months ago its all as vivid as though it were yesterday- I was immediately trotted off to see -he incubator there—also a sick pig belonging to one of the French camion chauffeurs, it appears he tried to hasten the fattening process too much. After tea we motored on through ruined village after ruined village lo Vic-sur-Aisne. It was at Yic that I got my first glimpse of the French Deschamps incubator—later at Villeneuve we were to become very much better acquainted. Monday night I got back to Paris about 10 o’clock to hear 1 was to come down to Villeneuve Tuesday in Miss Morgan’s car. In the centres I was introduced as a -poultry expert”—som.e leap from general handy man at Ambler. On the way down here we had to make a lovely run down the Champs Elyses and all along the Seine. My first real glimpse of Paris, and, oh, how heavenly it was. The run down here was very pretty and Monsieur and Madame X were most cordial. It was then that I began to use my French. M- X showed me ah over the farm and seemed most anxious for me to come 13 here. You can imagine how overwhelmed I felt at seeing 17 incubators with an egg capacity of 4500 ,eggs. M. X being French was very enthusiastic and very excited over the future prospects. Ever since 1 got here we have been very strenuous. It’s a lovely farm as Miss----------- will tell you. As fast as possible we got all our brooders and incubators going. At one time we had 4000 eggs in incubation, and 2500 chickens hatched with only one man and myself to care for them, our day helper having left us. YV,e lacked terribly green food. Some parks or range were what we wanted- However, we made the Lest arrangements we could. The French brooders never came and only half of four of the big American Buckeyes came. On top of all that the Powers that be, sent us rain for a week. It was certainly a very hectic and nerve-racking month. Monsieur X, the secretary and I all toiled away- M. X. however is a “gentleman farmer'’ and is also in the Aisne and at Paris a great deal so one couldn’t count tremendously on him. Our poor darling “poussine” fell ill, but with the aid of th.e American tonic in their mash and the French powder in their water we were able more or less to reduce our casualties. Every few minutes one of us was armed with the pump disinfecting with cresyl. A dear old village character, Mme. C., came to our aid and such devotion! She trots all day long. It was with huge joy that we sent our first consignment to the Aisne-Since then a camion comes .every few weeks and takes several hundred. We have now about one thousand left and they will be going before v.ery long. Our plant was talked of all over the countryside, as never had they seen anything on such a large scale. It was d.ecidedly a’ 1’ American. We had many visitors of note. One visit, that of the Marquis de Y Esterie, had a very happy ending for me. He is the grandson of Lafayette and the last descendant. I was very surprised to receive a very delightful invitation to tea at the Chateau la Grange for Sunday afternoon. Dressed in my uniform, “en bleu” as Monsieur X says, as a great concession I was allowed to take “Bluebird” out alon.e as a means of getting- there (“Bluebird”) being the Ford. You can imagine, I had a lovely time, and came back walking on air. 14 BEAUTIFUL ENGLISH GARDENS A summer vacation spent in England visiting the beautiful gardens that have been established many years is one of the most inspiring enperi-ences for the Landscape Gardener. One realizes only too well the limits of a busy life when only creating gardens, with little opportunity to see the creations of others. I arrived in Southampton, Hampshire, July nineteenth and was, after passing the Customs house officials (the usual maddening routine) met by motor and driven through the lovely stretch of country between Southampton to Portsmouth, which was to be my headquarters for the first week of my visit. I looked about me in bewilderment at the beautiful, homey little cottage gardens in the south of England. All seemed too beautiful for expression and I felt I could not speak for fear of missing some attractive little cottage garden with its climbing roses, snapdragons, asters, dahlias, poppies and many other bright colored flowers in massed profusion in each little door yard. If such place was not available owing to close proximity of the home and road, little garden effects were arranged in window boxes along the window sill either inside or outside the house. Some pretty little windows were just filled with bright colored geraniums or other equally attractive plants giving the whole effect of a charming little picture, framed in by house and trees. I never appreciated more fully the meaning of the word home and its inclusiveness of all pertaining to the domestic side of life, house, garden, orchard, and vegetable garden, but no place seemed complete without its little row of brightly colored flowers to cheer the daily life in the sometimes gray climate. In almost all cases the allotment garden had its row of flowers and the hard working, weary man could be seen trudging home at night with the large bunch of blossoms tightly clasped in his hand, that he had gathered on his way from work to cheer his wife and family. When speaking to one of these men I said, “Plow is it that everyone here grows flowers?”, he smiling answered: “Well, you see it is the women, the wife says she must have flowers for the dinner table, so we just grow ’um to keep ’urn amiable.” After many peeps into gardens along the wayside during my first week in England, I journeyed to London, from there to arrange my official trip. First I visited a beautiful old English place known as Ellen’s Farm, Rudg-wick, Sussex, whose old roof is just covered with lichens, and mosses, and the garden, though relaid out about ten years ago, had the atmosphere of an old place and the maturity which only age can bring. The rose and water gardens were a perfect dream of beauty. 1 now made Cardiff headquarters and from there visited, by motor, many beautiful places of which some of the most interesting were small gardens developed along the cliffs at Penarth, a suburb of Cardiff. The grounds were developed to use all the natural advantages of the stony cliffs and for the background the beautiful Bristol Channel with the d;stant shores of Devonshire breaking the skyline. One of the most beautiful of these was Plazle-hyrst, owned by Mrs. Smith, its attractive rose garden in formal layout and a formal arrangement of circular beds filled with lovely colored antirrhinums in shades of yellow and pinks, the whole giving the effect of a beautiful Parisian carpet. The description of small homey places that 1 visited would fill a book, but I must hurry on to tell of some of the beautiful large and well known 15 places visited too. Firstly I will speak of the two great amateur Horticulturists.. Mr. Charles Lucas, Warnham Court, Sussex and Mr. Reginold Cory, Duffryn, Cardiff. The former has a beautiful old home and collection of trees and flowering shrubs some of which he is testing out for Mr. Wilson, the plant collector. I was fortunate in having Mr. Lucas show me his place and though 1 spent almost a day there it was not nearly long enough to hear the interesting stories he had to tell of his many splendid specimens. Mr. Reginold Cory’s place was one of the interesting type which includes several thousand acres of land and three villages. Mr. Cory was in the Isle of White but his sister, Miss Cory, the real owner of the grounds, gave me a most interesting time taking me from garden to garden (seemingly hundreds of them) with interesting accounts and details of their development, most of which had been developed by them as an outgrowth of an inspiration after years of travel and study. The plants for each ‘particular spot were selected and the satisfaction of seeing them grown in that particular spot was a source of ever increasing interest and joy to them. There is really something so sincere and beautiful about the real lover of plants that nothing else seems to give the individual—a source of constant joy to the keen observer of nature. Then followed my education along the line of much money’d commercial life. This was demonstrated very beautifully in the place of Sir Ernest Cable’s (of India fame) Lindridge, in Devon. Lady Cable invited me to tea at five P. M. and offered me her head gardener to tour the estate beforehand. 1 arrived at two o’clock on Saturday afternoon, met Lady Cable, then started on my tour with the gardener who was the most interesting type of old Scotchman. He was anxious to demonstrate to the full all the beauties of the costly place, the making of which he, himself, had supervised under the direction of Mr. White the Landscape Architect of London. Beautiful terraces, rose gardens, perennial gardens, water gardens, pergolas. Greek temple and statuary, all the finest examples of their kind and well worthy of their beautiful setting around the old Elizabethan house, an achievement well to be proud of. At tea I met very interesting guests from India, one of whom had arrived only that morning after a very hot and tiresome journey across the seas, and seemingly most grateful for the quiet and repose of their beautiful spot. After tea, Lady Cable took me over the house with its dear old furniture of generations ago, explaining most interestingly its history. Lastly, but by no means the least, I must mention my visit to the beautiful gardens and forests of the Earl of Plymouth at St. Fagons near Cordiff. The flower gardens here were really the most beautiful I have ever seen in color and arrangement. Mr. Pettigrew, the superintendent, was so kind and attentive in showing me the grounds. The annual Sunday School picnic was held there the same day so you may imagine how attractive the whole place looked, alive with the dear little sprites wandering hither and thither through the flower borders and the lovers strolling arm in arm in the quiet shade of the woods, repeating the same old story known the world over. Much more could be said of my trip but for lack of time and space, the story of my vacation must end with only this wish that many others of us who are interested in horticulture may be as fortunate as I and have a similar opportunity of seeing “Beautiful English Gardens.” EMILY EXLEY. 16 FRENCH GARDENING—1920 “Dick, who’s going to take me out to my beloved village today?” asked a girl in a French blue uniform, as the chief of the Motor Service dropped into the chair at her desk. ‘‘Dick,” known in New York society as Miss Florence Dickonson, pulled off a dust-laden cap and fished a slip of paper out of her pocket. She ran a very grimy forefinger, ingrained with automobile grease, down the list of names, tilted back her chair and called in a parade ground voice. “Bab,” take Farnum out to Maresnes on your way to St. And in ’safter-noon. And take the Morlain road. They’re collecting ammunition on the short cut.” “Righto,” answered Bab from the porch. “Be ready at 2.15, Farnum.” As the camionette rattled along the Morlain road that afternoon Laura Farnum looked out over the fields, barren of life, overgrown with grass and wild mustard, corn flowers and poppies, pitted and scarred with shell holes and trenches, the tangles of barbed wire and stakes along the roadside, and the long piles of shells here and there, some “duds” and some that had come too late to do their share in the declaration of defiance to the barbaric destroyers of France’s beloved fields. Bab guided her car around a curve and into the little village of Maresnes. Down the cobbled street, and stopped in front of the school house—a new frame building, strongly contrast,ed to the soft grey stone of the old houses —or what was left of them. “I’ll be back about four thirty. Farnum,” said Bab as she prepared to drive on. “All right; you’ll find me out on the edge of the village.” answered Farnum. She transacted her business with the schoolmaster, dropped in at the few homes that had been reclaimed, to see if all was going well, and then started down the street toward the open country. At the edge of the village an old man and a young girl were working in a small field. Farnum stopped and greeted the girl, who looked up with a smile. Farnum walked down between the rows of potatoes. “You have a lot of work, Mam’selle,” she remarked. “Ah, oui,” answered the girl with a smile and a slight shrug.” “Is that your father,” asked Farnum, nodding to the old man who had stopped work and stood resting his hands on the handle of his hoe.” “No, my grandfather,” she answered. “My father—les Bodies—” she shrugged again, but there was a glint of fire in her eyes. “My brother.” once again she studied, “he works in the quarries at Morlain.” “I think I will speak with yotir grandfather,” said Farnum, and walked on up the field. “Bon jour, Monsieur,” she hailed the old peasant, and his face lighted up in a smile of the utmost friendliness, as he replied to her greeting. “You will have a good crop this year, n’est ce pas?” she asked him. “Oh, yes,” he acquiesced and looked down the narrow rows casually. “You would perhaps look at my little garden, Mam’selle,” he questioned eagerly. 17 “Yes, indeed,” answered Farnum eagerly, for this was what she had hoped for. The peasant’s love for his garden always thrilled her. “I have had a garden, too,” she said as they approached the little plot behind the remade house. “But my flowers and vegetables were not all together as yours are-” She looked over the rows of green plants and to the bordering rows of flowers—roses, corn flowers and dianthus. “See, Mam’selle,” exclaimed the old gardener as he moved among his beloved plants, “you know the endive. I found the little plants growing wild where the garden used to be. And the seed of the peas I brought with me when we came back home. And look, Mam’selle,” he moved on to several rows of beans; “it was your Societe which gave us the Leans. They will be good when the Winter comes.” And so he moved over the little garden, showing the girl all his plants- as if they were rare treasures. “It was hard to make the garden again when you came back, was it not?” asked Farnum. “Oh, yesm,” he answered, but as if it was not so very much, after all. “There were the shell holes to be filled—four of them—and a bit of trench, and of course there was barbed wire and shells. Look Mam’selle,” he smiled gleefully and pointed to three hand grenades on a post near the house. “You will take one—from my garden—Mam’selle” he asked, “to make an ink1 well.” He laughed, as pleased as a child, over the idea. “Thank you, thank you, Monsieur. But, tell me, you were not here during the war?” “Mais, non, Mam’selle, we w.ere far from here. South of Paris. It is good to be home again after four years, Mam’selle.” At this juncture Bab and the camionette appeared and Farnum bade farewell to the old gardener. “Good-bye, Monsieur, and good luck to your beautiful garden.” And off they went, leaving th,e old man, smiling and happy, contented in being once more in his own niche, making anew the home and the garden that had been his whole life and which even the destruction of four years could not make less dear. Sept. 24, 1920 ELEANOR F. FULLERTON. ANNOUNCEMENTS Announcements are received of the marriage of Miss Lois Marion Goss (Class of T7) to Mr- Marshall Eaton Briggs on October 2d, at Taunton, Mass. Their hom,e will be in Pawtucket, R. I. Miss Ruth Gerhard, T8, is teaching floriculture at National Park Seminary. Miss Weir and Miss Stewart, of Scotland, stopped at the school on their tour of the United States and Canada to take a two weeks’ course in canning and be,e culture. They have previously studied at a gardening school near London. 18 The Misses Blakistons entertained the faculty and students at supper the evening of July 14. We had a delightful time, and among other things saw the collection of Indian baskets. Mrs. J. S. Doan gave a surprise party for Mr- Doan and invited all of the school. We played charades and had an enjoyable evening. Several jolly picnic suppers vere held in the woods this fall. THE ALLENTOWN FAIR Friday, September 24, 12 members of the faculty and student body attended the Allentown Fair. We w,ere very much interested in the exhibits, especially the fruit, poultry and swine. The cattle exhibits were disappointing, due, we were told, to the high freight rates, which prevented a larger showing. We came home tired, but felt that we had had an enjoyable as well as a profitable day. The School of Horticulture made no entries at this fair this year. At the Philadelphia County Fair, held at Byberry September 6 to 13, the school took first prizes for two varieties of tomatoes, Savoy cabbage, eggplants, 10 varieties of jams, cann,ed peaches and canned asparagus- And a second prize for honey. RELISH FOR THE WISE When the censor asked my occupation I replied without hesitation, T am an Apiarist.” “Madame,” he said, ul did not ask your religion, only your occupation.” “Agriculture is my occupation,” I replied. You will find it very difficult when you go to register unless there is a more usual word for your occupation; for the men where you register will not understand what Apiarist means. So the word Beekeeper was substituted. The censor looked comically relieved, and no doubt felt he had extracted himself with glory from the difficulty by placing any ignorance he may have f.elt to the credit of the registrars. A gardener is a man who raises a few things, A farmer is one who raises many things, And a middle-man, one who raises everything. —Literary Digest. DISGUSTED WITH HONEY At Bay View we m,et a lady who had been very fond of honey. But accidentally she saw in an exhibition a comb with bees on it in an observing hive. She said: “I was very fond of honey, but when I saw all those flies on that honey, tramping around, it disgusted m,e- 1 can’t eat honey any longer. 1 did not know that honey was made that way.”—From the American Bee Journal. 19 Ornamentals exclusively distinctive in quality and variety We cater to the most discrim-inatiyigtmde. HEISS’S Dry Goods, Notions, Millinery Men’s Furnishings 303-305 Butler Ave. Ambler, Pa. LAMPHERE Jeweler Butler Avenue, Ambler, Pa. Plant Your Savings NOW! Plant where your funds are safe and plant also where they will grow. The First National Bank of Ambler, Pa. has 52,000,000 in resources. It pays 2 per cent, interest on checking accounts and 3% per cent, on savings accounts. Wm. H. Faust, Cashier. J. W. CRAFT SONS Ambler, Pa. Manufacturers and Dealers in Scratch and Mash Feed Building Material Fencing Materials Lehigh Coal JOHN DULL FRUIT AND VEGETABLES Butler Avenue Ambler, Pa. C. Marvin Riley ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR SUPPLIES All Kinds of Repairs 250 Park Avenue Beth Phones Ambler, Pa. Both Phones MENTION “WISE ACRES.” IT HELPS YOU AND HELPS US. HENRY A. DREER 714-716 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, Pa. •yi 4 0 Dreer’s Reliable Bulbs For Spring Blooming These bulbs must be planted during the Fall for blooming the following Spring and include such lovely flowers as Hyacinths, Tulips, Narcissus, Crocus, Lilies, etc. Dreer’s Autumn Catalogue offers and describes the best varieties, also Roses, Hardy Perennial Plants, Vines, Shrubs, etc., besides everything seasonable for use on the Farm, Garden, Greenhouse and Conservatory. Write today for a copy, which will be mailed free if you mention this publication. S. S. GEHMAN H. J. DAGER Furniture Bedding and House Furnishings Ambler, Pa. REAL ESTATE Ambler, Pa. I. K. B. HANSELL INSURANCE Notary Public Auto Licenses Ambler, Pennsylvania J. M. KIRK Sanitary Plumbing Gas and Steam Heating Pumping Machinery of all kinds. Windmills, Gas Engines, Etc. Office: 304 Butler Avenue Both Phenes Ambler, Pa. MENTION “WISE ACRES. IT HELPS YOU AND HELPS US. (