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

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School of Horticulture Tail-Feathers and Temperaments Edith H. King P) EMEMBERING Ambler, one picture comes very clear—the clean black outline of i. trees in the woods across the road; a gray sky and, flapping across it, black wings of crows in two's and three’s and straggling groups. There is much cawing to ac-complish this daily migration—harsh sounds, yet somehow not out of the picture. Going to breakfast in the early morning there were always two or three starlings conducting a Punch and Judy show in the Plane tree. I suppose they are outlaws in bird society but not less amusing for that. We worked in the rose garden with bluebirds fluttering back and forth. The croon of a bluebird is half happy, half wistful, and, to me, wholly beguiling. They miss much who have never listened for it and then hoped to see the breath-taking blue of the bird. It's an experience that can make every spring more significant. Once I found a bluebird's nest in a hollow tree—the first one! And so might you! But the nest I remember even better is the one on a long, out-reaching arm of the beech tree by the creek—the nest that was not so big as half an eggshell. 1 was idling on my back under this old tree giant when directly above my head the excited buzz and green flash of a hummer made me very suddenly alert, but still. She hated my being there, but she took up her post on the nest just the same, for there were eggs to be protected. Of course she was not to be disturbed then, but I promised myself to come back in a week and see the little birds. I didn't get back, much as I wanted to. But in the fall I made a trip to the old tree and easily reached the branch where the nest was. I still have the nest on its broken branch, but never could it possibly have been discovered without the bird herself having directed my attention. Birds along the water seem always to have a special fascination. Kingfishers— it's so easy to know Kingfishers and so endlessly interesting to watch them. And the little green heron has shadowed me up and down the banks for long distances, his curiosity almost too much to be endured. The squawk of him is fearsome. But the great blue heron! When I first saw his tracks I knew they simply could not happen. No such big bird could be, that was all, not in that little creek I knew so well. But later I saw him many times as he flew up from his wading, always having seen me first. Only once have I surprised him wading and that once was an exciting moment. Being a canny chap, he knows his head on the long crooked neck and the pointed bill, looks just like a dead limb if he keeps still enough. I looked and looked to be sure I wasn't being tricked by my imagination. When he wiggled his bill I was sure. I moved to get a better view, and as I expected, he flew. Such a spread of wing, as he has! Does he ever make a sound. I wonder? Or is he as silent as the green heron is noisy? You have seen swallows strung like beads on a wire overhead? But you may never have seen a glistening blue barn swallow trailing long wings in the muddy road while she collected mud for her nest. Their little feet are so weak that walking is a T wenty'threc

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W ise-oA cres Perennial Seeds 1 pkt. Columbine—Long Spurred Hybrid......................$0.15 1 pkt. Delphinium—Gold Medal Hybrid ........................15 1 pkt. Arabis Alpine .........................................10 1 pkt. Hollyhocks, single, mixed ............................10 1 pkt. Linum Perenne .........................................10 1 pkt. Lupinus Polyphyllus ...................................10 1 pkt. Myosotis Dissitiflora .................................15 1 pkt. Digitalis—Grand Shirley ...............................15 ---- $1.00 Bulbs 50 Gladiolus Primulinus Hybrid, mixed.......................$1.50 1 doz. Darwin Tulip—Clara Butt ...............................50 Zl doz. Cottage Tulip—Moonlight ...............................30 Zl doz. Tulips Clusianna ......................................34 2J 2 doz. Narcissus—Variety Empress ............................62 Zl doz. Narcissus—Variety Emperor ............................62 Zl doz. Narcissus—Variety Mrs. Langtry .......................62 Zl doz. Narcissus—Variety Barrii Conspicuous..................50 ---- $5.00 Perennial Plants 1 Phlox—Elizabeth Campbell ................................$0.25 1 Phlox—Miss Lingard .........................................25 1 Iris—Variety Queen of May...................................20 1 Iris—Variety Blue Boy.......................................20 1 Iris—Mme. Cheran ............................................20 1 Japanese Iris ..............................................25 1 Hardy Chrysanthemum—Variety Lilian Doty....................20 1 Hardy Chrysanthemum—Variety October Gold ..................20 1 Hardy Aster—Variety Climax .................................25 1 Hardy Aster—Variety Liege ..................................25 ---- $2.25 Brier Rose—Harrison’s Yellow ..................................... 75 $10.00 chapter from “Flowers for Every Garden ” to be published by the Atlantic Monthly Press of America. T wenty'two

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W'tse-oAcres hard task—who would want feet if he could fly like that? There are so many swal-lows and each kind has a different and interesting way of nesting. It will always be a miracle to me to witness the sure dive of a bank swallow into her nest-hole in a bank honeycombed with nest-holes. Flickers and purple martins are too rollicking to possess a temperament, but they possess personality--and humor. 1 think Kildeers have no humor, but they have temperament and are easily a prey to “nerves. In the night you will hear them start up crying from some alarm. But just-outof-thc-shell Kildeers are the sight to see! They are so fluffy and so temptingly pretty, but they can run!- -as fast as they will later fly, it seems, if you try to follow them. It's ungrateful to say no word for the little usual birds but- they are so many. Nuthatches are droll. Maryland Yellowthroats are fairy birds: and Goldfinches— well, they should be irresistible. Indigo Buntings would be worth the most patient search but they always take you unexpectedly. Orioles in a blossoming apple-tree— oh, it’s a consuming hobby, this one. May it straightway consume you, too! qA Letter from Totn” Hall ALTHOUGH, at present, a librarian by trade, my horticultural foundation is standing me in good stead. For the past two years, I have conducted a Junior and a Senior Nature Club in connection with my library work with children. These clubs meet weekly with an occasional Nature hike along Riverside Drive or in Central Park. Florist windows are resorted to as a means of learning the names of flowers, then back we go to the library and find books telling the mysterious legends of these same flowers. On a Friday afternoon in January, if Mr. Kaiser were to be our guest (and I hope he will be) he would feel as if he were back in the Ambler classroom surrounded with winter bouquets of dried up goldcnrod, sumac, and what not. And the little city urchins clamor for more. They know what “H “A “M stands for and they woudn't if it had not been for Ambler. A majority belong to the Liberty Bell Club which has its headquarters in Philadelphia. So you see what a Pennsylvania atmosphere pervades even little old New York. Last spring I took the course in Spring Flowers and Ferns consisting of weekly hikes led by Dr. Gunderson of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This year I am again taking a course in Trees and Shrubs lead by Dr. Graves of the same institution. This winter I was a member of the twenty-first class directed by the Woodcraft League of America. This course was intensely interesting, helping to fit one for Nature Lore Work. For three days over Memorial Day I am planning to be at the Woodcraft Camp at Greenwich, Connecticut, where one sleeps, works, plays, and eats out of doors with bird, fern, mushroom, flower, astronomy, and many more daily hikes. Here, Ernest Thompson Seton offers his Indian Village to his fellow Woodcrafters. From the seventeenth to the thirtieth of June I am. enrolled in the Nature Lore School at Camp Andree at Briar Cliff, New York, under the direction of Dr. William Vinal. And there you are. I really am a librarian but you see what Ambler did for me. T wentyfour