The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-12-09

this instead of a task. Local pride
| is the best promoter of this kind of
civic improvement and as one citizen
shows disposition to keep his prop
erty looking attractive so will an
other. Well kept lawns add much to
the value of village property, some
places being intrinsically, increased
hundreds of dollars by the simple
task of keeping them free from a ne
elected look"
Not only is a we'll kept village or
city a delight to the eye, and an in
spiration to higher standards of liv-
ing, but it secures reputation that
is exceedingly valuable. Perhaps
there is no better illustrations of this
fact than the fame that Portland,
Oregon has won as the "City of
Roses This reputation has been
secured only by patient toll and per-
sistent effort, but the reward is to be
found in the fact that ninety-nine out
of every hundred people now asso-
ciate Portland, Oregon with roses, and
perhaps know nothing more of the
city.
A correspondent of the Chicago Ad-
vance has this to say of Portland:
Portland is Oregon's great city, a
metropolis, and one of the most sub
stantial cities on the Pacific coast. But
| the first thing one of it's proud resi-
dents wants you to understand about
! Portland is, that it is a city of roses,
blooming beauty. Even the street
conductor came out of the shell which
so generally incloses his profession
and burst into poetical praise of the
city when we spoke to- him about the
roses. Yes, he said with a glowing
| smile, we have couplet here which
| expresses it,
Roses fragrant, roses rare
Roses, roses everywhere
And they are everywhere, great
| hedges of them along the fences,
great rows of them along the walks,
| big beds of them in the yards, tangled
| masses of them in spare spaces and
odd corners. And such beauties! l
have seen roses in lands of flowers,
| in California, where they go up on
| the house tops and match their smil-
| ing beauty with the gladness of day /;
| in Louisiana, where there are miles
! Cube where they nang III great masses
over old walls; in Mexico where the
| flaming hibiscus and the most rare
combination of Natures art, the poin-
settia, give the roses a close race in
! the rivalry of attraction; but nowhere
| are these Portland roses outdone.
| they are at the heart of beauty. In the
| language of the Pacific coast, they
are the greatest on the continent.
| There are a thousand miles of roses
| in Portland, so it is claimed, and if
set in a continuous row they would
reach to Los Angeles.
And what seems strange for such
latitude as that of Portland, they lin
! ger long after the sharp winds have
whipped the leaves of our trees into
their graves, and eXtinguished the
| smile of he last flower in the garden.
| "'How long do they last?' l asked
| of the beaming conductor. Until
Christmas and after the holidays was
| the reply, and they come back early
! in the sprng.'
| Next summer the city is to hold a
| great flower festival at cost of
| 100000. More than 25,000000 roses
\ are to be used in the decoration, and
| it is to be one of the most peerless
| of pageants. 1t is expected to draw
| quarter of million visitors and to
| call out several hundred millions of
| EXPLANATIONS. When it is over the
worst critic that the city has will be
compelled to admit that Portland rose
| to the occasion"
| Money cannot purchase such a rep
utation. 1t is an asset of priceless
value. Applying this lesson to local
conditions it is fact that cannot be
/ disputed that we might make much
more of our city if we would try sys-
tematically to beautify it. Flower gar
dens, window boxes, we'll kept lawns,
Cltsn streets, all add 70 the attractive
ness and good name of municipali-
organizations in furthering this good
work.
10 some place; the raiicoad stations
are made beautiful. The United
States Consul at Cornwall, Canada
| writes that the Canadian Pacific Rail-
| road maintains floral department
| for the purpose of identifying the
grounds around it's 1,500 stations /;
1000 packages, With about half mil
lion bulbs for indoor and outdoor
planting, are being sent out this fall.
! While this system entails a good deal
of expense in the purchase of bulbs
and seeds, the company gets rich
return in the attractiveness of the
station grounds. At some stations
miniature parks have been laid out by
landscape gardeners. The men in
most places take great interest and
| pride in this work. The applications
for seeds and bulbs have been more
numerous this year than ever before
! during the 1S years of the existence
of the floral department. The man.
agements of some of the western di-
visions offer cash prizes of $50 for the
best kept garden in each general SUI
perintendent's division, $40 for the
next best in each division, and smaller
prizes for the smaller districts.
Any disposition to sheer at such
work is display of ignorance and
unprogressiveness. The beauty of a
city is second only to it's reputation
for honor. 1t would require no
| ,caot avbihitiop Of TINA apd ononay