The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1932 THE GLORY OF THE GARDEN,

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19308, 8 October 1932, Page 8

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1932 THE GLORY OF THE GARDEN,

It. is probably not too much to say that in these days and in these thrice-favoured isles, the interest taken in plants is more widespread and general than at any previous time in history. It was Francis Bacon who described gardening as the purest of human pleasures, affording the greatest and most sublime refreshment to the spirit. The flower then may surely be said to constitute the crowning glory of plant life, and few indeed are there among plant growers and students who do not trace the beginning of their interest in horticulture to an initial love of flowers:

In all places then, and in all seasons Flowers expand their light and soullike wings, Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons,

How akin they are to human things. From time immemorable blossoms of various kinds have been chosen to serve as symbols for all that is best in life; and peoples of all civilisations and types have shown their delight in the beauty of form, diversity of colour and fragrance of perfume, such as can be seen in the rich abundance of floral gems that adorn the gardens of New Zealand: To me the meanest flower that blows can give. Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. —Wordsworth. Even the most unemotional visitor to the spring show of the Timaru Horticultural Society now displayed with soft and colourful brilliance in the Bay Hall, must realise as the glorious blooms are seen in such perfection and profusion, why inspired writers have always made Paradise a garden. At the spring flower show are d. played for the pleasure and education of lovers of flowers, something to satisfy the natural thirst of the eye for colour, and the yearning of the senses for the sweet fragrances from, what Shakespeare has described as “Nature’s infinite book of secrecy.” It is a magnificent display—a veritable nosegay of perfection, of alluring fragrance —not only of the wonders of the garden, but of evidence of the care and cultivation that have been lavished on floral beauties by enthusiastic and capable gardeners. There in wondrous display are choicest specimens of the “flowers that bloom in the Spring.” To the responsive heart the voiceless lips of flowers are living preachers; each cup a pulpit; and each leaf a book. To the young they are messengers of inspiration, for there is a daintiness about each flower that touches us like poetry; they blow out in such simple loveliness from the Earth, and they breathe their fragrant measure with unobtrusive charm in their unmistakable appeal to youth. To others, flowers are the bright remembrances of youth; they waft us back with their bland and odorous breath to joyous hours that only youth knows. Moreover, the patience and the punctuality of natural things, present an excellent example to thoughtful observers, for Nature moves in such a dignified and orderly fashion that in all the garden there is no such thing as an idle root or leaf. In the main, however, the spring show is the hour of the Narcissus, which has its roots away back in, Greek legend in the beautiful son of the fabled Athenian river god who was turned into a flower. Of these the poet sings:

And I love, too, that dainty thing The Daffodil, so calm and still;

Watch her unfold, her chalice gold. To Heaven lift up, her bell-shaped cup, She joy doth bring—the Daffodil.

No lover of flowers ought to miss seeing the wonderful exhibition the Horticultural Society has staged this year. The efforts of the gardening enthusiasts merit the wholehearted support of all sections of the community. The universal heart of man blesses flowers—the beautiful hieroglyphics of the Creator. It has been said that the daffodil is the out of door queen, pushing up its head to sport in the sunshine. It is doubtful, if a finer display of spring flowers has even been presented for the delight of the people of Timaru. If as the poets like to say the Omnipotent has written His name in flaming signs across the firmament of glittering stars; it is equally true that upon the Earth the name of the Creator has been painted in tender and beautiful flowers. Out of the gardens of the enthusiastic lovers of flowers have emerged the fragrantly beautiful daughters of the Earth and Sun. upon whose upturned and chaste faces are pencilled the inspiring mesages of the Divine Gardener. On the benches at the flower show glorious floral creations, all radiant with almost ethereal grace, greet all who pay homage at their altar of beauty. The Society needs and deserves encouragement, for the more universal the patronage the more interest generated in the glories of the garden. This is a worthy ideal, indeed, for the philosophers have said that to cultivate a garden is to walk with the Creator; to go hand in hand with Nature in some of her most wonderful processes; to learn something of her choicest secrets; and

to have a more intelligent interest awakened in the beautiful orderliness of her ways, and to merit an introduction to the wonders of the works of Nature elsewhere: WHEAT-GROWERS’ S.O.S. No special persuasion ought to be required to draw the wheatgrowers from end to end of South Canterbury to the meeting to be held in Timaru to-day to meet the Minister of Agriculture. Moreover, it ought not to be necessary to remind every businessman and every worker in all the trading centres of the district, that the preservation of the wheat industry is essential to the commercial and industrial life of the com munities dotted over this portion of the province. Is it necessary to point to the growing strength of the organised foes of what, to the Dominion, is a key industry, and what, to the people of this district, is as vital as the very breath in the body of the individual? From eud to end of the North Island the propaganda of the anti-wheat people is being vigorously and persistently circulated. Tlie new Minister of Agriculture is a North Islander, whose constituency is almost contiguous to the storm centre of the opposition to any measure of protection being afforded by the State to the wheat grower. So far, we may take it for granted, the Minister of Agriculture has had the other side emphatically and capably represented to him. In many centres, the strongest representations have been made to the Minister to abolish the sliding scale of duty and permit the unrestricted importation of wheat and flour. Such a policy, it is universally realised in this district, would be nationally suicidal and wholly detrimental to one of the most important phases of the agricultural activities of the Dominion. All the arguments are on the side of the producers of wheat, particularly in times of economic difficulties when it is imperative (if the country is to emerge from the miasma of prolonged depression, which has all but suffocated agriculture as a profitable means of work) to keep the money in the country. But the wheat grower, the business man, the retailer and the worker who knows anything about the basis of the prosperity of South Canterbury knows just what the wheat industry means to the district, and it ought to be recog uised by all sections of the community that the most important engagement to-day for all who have the interests of the town and country at heart, is to attend the meeting at which the Minister of Agriculture is to be present, and so help to impress upon our visitor the strength of the backing that is behind the demands this and other districts are repeatedly making for mere justice to the grower of wheat as a valuable unit in the key industry, the preservation of which is essential to the welfare of the Dominion.

THE RAILWAY BUDGET. Although the first statement issued by the New Zealand Railways Board discloses that tin* budget has not been balanced, but that a substantial loss lias been made on the year’s operations, it: can be said in all sincerity that the Board has fully justified its existence, and the country has faith in its efforts to narrow the gulf that now separates railways revenue and expenditure. It is not difficult to speak of running the railways on purely business lines, but it is doubtful if the country is ready for such a drastic policy being adopted in the administration and control of the Dominion's railway system. Moreover, it is generally agreed that the actual revenue earned by the railways does not represent the full value of the railways to the people of -New Zealand. On the contrary, some credit ought to be given each year for the national value of the railways in relation to the development of the country’s rural industry. The railways in New Zealand are not alone in returning a deficit on the year’s operations. All over the world the railway systems—and some of them are conducted in the highest stale of business efficiency—are being operated at substantial losses. Nevertheless, the Railway Statement which was presented in the House of Representatives yesterday, is a plain businesslike document which will serve to increase the confidence already won by the Railways Board in the difficult and somewhat bewildering task that has been undertaken in the administration and control of the largest department of the State's activities.