THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE 



61 



Calopogon as an orchid while the com- 

 mon rattlesnake plantain and the tway- 

 blade, coral root and adder's month, all 

 seem remote from the popular idea of 

 the expensive orchid of the greenhouse. 

 And speaking of orchids of the 

 greenhouse let us tell our readers that 

 we have never seen any more beautiful 

 than those in the extensive green- 

 houses of Lager & Hurrell of Summit, 

 New Jersey. Here seems to be the 

 Mecca of all the wonderful South 

 American orchids. They have their 

 commercial value, but back of all such 

 success is the genuine love that the 

 proprietors have for these weird 

 flowers of the tropics. An orchid any- 

 where, here in our own woods or in 

 South America, seems to savor of 

 something from another world. A 

 moccasin flower seems not like a 

 flower, but like an elfin balloon. It is, 

 therefore, fascinating to walk through 

 Lager & Hurrell's extensive green- 

 houses and see the astonishing forms 

 into which this curious family of 

 flowers has by nature been diversified. 



A Vase for a Single Flower. 



For many years a bouquet was a 

 heterogeneous mass of all sorts of in- 

 congruous flowers, but within the last 

 two decades or so of increased interest 

 in nature, most people have learned 

 that flowers are most beautiful when 

 only one kind is in a bouquet. There 

 was a time when we sprinkled in a 

 little of everything everywhere, and to 

 a certain extent that, in planting, is 

 now the best method, since it follows 

 nature's method. 



The Roycrofters of East Aurora, 

 New _ York, are inculcating another 

 teaching, which is to admire a single 

 flower, and for that purpose have 

 placed in the market an attractive vase 

 designed to hold only a single speci- 

 men, as shown in the accompanying il- 

 lustration. Whether one purchases 

 this vase or not, or whether one uses 

 only a bottle to hold the flower, here is 

 a good idea, because a single flower 

 has beauty enough for a million peo- 

 ple if^ all could see it. As Thoreau 

 said, "A mouse is marvel enough to 

 stagger sextillions of infidels." "So a 



single flower is surely enough to de- 

 light all the inmates of a household: 

 Suppose there was no other of the same 

 kind in the world, suppose we had 

 never seen any other flower. What a 

 marvel would we regard an unfolding 

 rose ! It would be so great an aston- 



THE VASE FOR A SINGLE FLOWER. 



ishment that it seems as if our senses 

 could not endure more than one at a 

 time. 



You would have me reverent in the 

 church, where you open to me the 

 word of God; I would have you rever- 

 ent in the fields and by the seashore, 

 where I show you the works of God. — 

 Loni<- Agassis. 



