138 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



arrangement are so thoroughly discussed and widely published that there seems noth- 

 ing left to say on the subject. And yet when I think of the plates of elaborate 

 grounds and extensive conservatories, the unpronounceable names and exaggerated 

 descriptions, the high price to pay and the infinite labor to keep, with which our hor- 

 ticultural periodicals abound ; I think, if there is nothing to add, there may be some- 

 thing to subtract. There is so much said on the subject of taste ; so many rules that 

 must not be violated ; that an ordinary lover of flowers would be so appalled as to 

 despair of ever raising any flowers that would not shock Mrs. Vegetable Grundy, either 

 by the small amount invested in their purchase, the unscientific mode of culture, or 

 the bad taste displayed in their arrangement. One person says : " don't make a 

 flower garden and cut it all up into little beds ; it is so great a departure from Nature ; 

 it is very ugly." 



The pinks and dahlias, the roses and japonicas of our gardens, the cultivated and 

 intellectual man, and the accomplished and well-dressed women of our houses, are all 

 a departure from nature, but I never heard of any fault found on that account. And 

 who ever heard that the beauty of a landscape was at all impaired by the addition of 

 a neat, pretty village, and its surroundings ; with its straight, smooth road, flanked on 

 either side with convenient, cozy dwellings, half hidden in the trees; its schoolhouse 

 standing apart, and its church on the hill ? And why not a village of flowers ; with 

 roads of gravel, and fences of box and iris ; houses of rosewood ; meadows of daisies 

 and cowslips ; store-houses of honeysuckles and jessamine for the hummingbirds ; a 

 little garden of reseda and hyacinths for the bees ; an orchard of flowering almonds 

 and japan quince ; spines of hollyhocks and dahlias in the distance ; the whole inter- 

 spersed with domes and archers where the birds may give concerts ad libitum f 



Nature may be all very well in her way, but in my opinion the Good Father has 

 created many of our surroundings as imperfect as we are, at first, and that he intended 

 us to do some things ourselves. I am sure he always expected us to build houses to 

 live in, and he did not think in doiug it he would mar the beauty of his landscapes, or 

 he would have created us so that we did not need them. And I am sure he expects us 

 to reclaim the waste places and make the wilderness blossom as the rose. 



There is beauty in diversity as well as uniformity — in masses as well as in isolation, 

 in convenience and in use — and above all in harmony. So 1 say make a flower garden. 

 You can cultivate so much more easily, you can protect with greater convenience. 

 You can arrange to eclipse the rainbow and better than all, you can run out and gather 

 a profusion of flowers to give to some unfortunate body who has none, in just a minute 

 and never miss them. Of course this garden is not to be placed where your eye. rests 

 on it continually, because the eye would be overtasked, just as the ear would be if 

 everybody carried on conversation in an Aria from La fille du Regiment Robert le 

 Diable. 



Nor should it be placed so near a road that the dust is always settling down upon it. 

 Every person who loves flowers will find some convenient and suitable place for them, 

 both in doors and out. There is no necessity to copy here all the directions given for 

 compounding soils, selecting plants, time for planting, pruning, transplanting, shading, 

 watering, &c. A few words however may not be amiss. When a person begins to 

 make collections for a garden or conservatory, I think he should act on the same 

 principle he would in forming a library. That is, begin Avith something he knows, or 

 that some reliable friend recommends. 



