388 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



I ^atliercd two or three pretty and sweet flowers — I remember that a carna- 

 tion and two sweet peas I'ormed part — tied them together, and w'e took them 

 ■with the fruit to the sick woman. 



We wpre taken up to her bedroom. There she lay, pale and emaciated, with 

 an ominous flush on her cheeks. Wc handed lier the longed-for grapes. She 

 said " much obliged." 



But when I held out to her the few flowers I had brought, she snatched them 

 so eagerly that I was startled and awed to see the delight they gave to one who 

 was evidently so near the confines of the Unknown. 



I called again in a day or two, and saw the flowers carefully preserved and 



looking bright in a doctor's medicine bottle close by her bedside. That scene 



taught me a lesson I have never forgotten, and I hope it is not without its use 



also. 

 ************** 



Marshall P. Wilder says the establishment and adornment of our cemeteries 

 is a strong evidence of improved taste. Where formerly only decaying grass, 

 tangled weeds and m.oss-covered tablets were generally to be seen, may now be 

 witnessed beautiful sites, natural scenery, and embellished lots, that awaken 

 sensations which no language can describe. 



The general use of flowers, from the cradle to the grave, afi'ords striking 

 proofs of a high state of civilization and refinement. Within our own recollec- 

 tion, the use of flowers at funerals or in the sanctuary was deemed improper * 

 with the sanctity of divine worship. 



These have been too often considered as the mere superfluities of life, but the 

 more we are brought into communion with them, the more will our souls be 

 inspired with gratitude to Ilim who clothes the fields with floral gems scarcely 

 less brilliant than the glittering host above. 



SOWING FLOWER SEEDS. 



A writer in Gardening Illustrated, in speaking of the injury which may be 

 done by the heavy watering of small flower seeds before they are up, recom- 

 mends, in substance, the following treatment : Fill the bed with nearly the 

 required quantity of soil ; press it down smooth and level, a firm bottom being 

 necessary ; water this soil well with warm water through a fine rose ; then fill 

 up with firm, half-dry soil to the required level, pressing gently. Sow the seed 

 and cover it with very finely pulverized compost, giving no more water. 

 Place a sheet of glass now over the seed, and the moisture from below will rise 

 in sufficient quantity, while the surface will be left open and free and in the 

 most lavorable condition for the healthy germination of the seeds. Leaf 

 mould answers well on the surface. Do not keep the glass on too closely, and 

 gradually dispense with it by lifting or tilting. 



CHEAP AND PERMANENT BOUQUET. 



"Horticola," in the Uural Xew Yorker, is the author of the following capi- 

 tal idea of winter decoration which any one can carry out: 



There are a great many people who have no greenhouse from which a dish 

 or stand of flowers may be gathered almost every day in the winter to orna- 



