Horticulture in Our Homes. 51 



schools and colleges at eighteen and twenty, and prematurely 

 into all the responsibilities of life, that the plea of no time seems 

 at first thought allowable. Yet, even amid this baste, are there 

 Eot in all our lives, many hours worse than wasted, which, if spent 

 in horticultural pursuits, would bring pleasure rather than a blank 

 or a pain? Believiug that these things are possible and practica- 

 ble, let us possess and use them. Into our lives and the early 

 lives of those about us, let us weave all that we can of the good 

 and the beautiful. 



Such work and such pleasure need, ye3, to be fully successful, 

 must have the cooperation of all the members of the family. 

 Very helpful to the little one is an encouraging suggestion or a 

 moment's aid from the parent; very stimulating to the parent is 

 the evident interest and admiration of the younger members. 

 Efforts hv the "rulers without," to locate stables and pig-stys in 

 retirement ; to remove unused farm implements from their promi- 

 nent resting places into a place of shelter prepared for them; to 

 deposit all rubbish on the woodpile or compost heap ; to remove 

 from the house surroundings all worthless wepds and grow choice 

 grasses instead ; to plant here and there a flowering shrub, or group 

 of noble trees; to place upon the well-kept lawn a bed of flowers, 

 a vase, or at least, the present very popular heap of stones or in- 

 verted stump, nicely filled or covered with creeping plants and 

 flowers, all these will be appreciated and enjoyed by the "rulers 

 within " and will fiud their counterpart in neatness and good 

 order; in well chosen pictures upon the walls; choice flowers from 

 the field and the garden will grace the table and mantel, rich 

 autumn leaves will beautify curtain and wall. Luscious fruits in 

 their season will adorn the table and be made a prominent part of 

 the daily food. The sitting room will be a reading room as well, but 

 among the books and periodicals there will be no place for the 

 dime novel, and in the 3 7 oung minds interested in the good, the 

 real, the useful, there will be no room or call for its teachings. 

 Reading, music and social games will make the long winter even- 

 ings seasons of improvement and happiness, remembered with 

 unalloyed pleasure by all, and in time to be re-enacted by each 

 child in homes of their own. 



