364 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Some of the best plants for culture in baskets, especially when 

 grown as individual plants, are Fuchsia procumbens^ Begonia glauco- 

 phylla scandens, the beautiful pink blossoms of which drooping over 

 the edge of a basket are remarkably baautiful ; to fully show its beauty 

 it should b9 grown as a basket plant. English Ivy, trained all around 

 a basket, is excellently adapted for the parlor, enduring with impunity 

 the dry air of the room. For mixing with other plants, begonias of all 

 kinds, including the Red section, fine-leaved Dracaenas, Maurandias, 

 Vincas, Ivy-leafed Geraniums, Thunbergias, Tradescantias, Peperomia 

 .prostrata, and any easily grown drooping plants are suitable. 



M. Milton. 



THE SYMBOLISIM OF FLOWERS. 



In all ages, and among almost ever}'- people, flowers have been 

 adopted as symbols, types and emblems of human combination, affec- 

 tion and loyalty. The reader need scarcely be reminded of the red 

 and white roses which were the badges of Lancastrian and York rivals 

 to the English throne. 



But this symbolism of flowers dates back to periods far older than 

 the time of the Wars of the Roses. The ancient nations had their em- 

 blematic flowers. The special flower of the Hindoo, for instance, has 

 always been the marigold. The Chinese display as their national 

 .flower the gorgeous chrysanthemum. 



The Assyrians, for ages, proudly wore the water-lily; Egyptians 

 delight most of all in the helliotrope, though the papyrus leaf, used by 

 the ancient Egyptians in place of paper, may also be regarded in a 

 high sense as the sj'mbolic plant of the land of the Nile. 



Even the days of ths week, as we use them now, are named from 

 deities who had each his special flower: The Sun (Sunday), the sun- 

 flower; the Moon (Monday), the daisy; Tuesday (the god Tui's day), 

 the violet ; Wednesday (the god Woden's day), the blue monkshood ; 

 Thursday (the god Thor's day), the burdock ; Friday (the goddess Frea's 

 day), the orchis; and Saturday (Saturn's day), the horse-tail. 



We also find that in our time the sacred days in the calendar of the 

 English church have all their flower or plant emblems, the piincipal 

 of which are the holly for Christmas, the palm for Palm Sunday, and 

 the amaranth for All Saints' Day. 



Monarchs and nations have often had their symbolic flowers. The 

 thistle is the emblem of Scotland and the shamrock of Ireland. The 

 ^/uer de lis is the badge of the royal house of France, and the amaranth 

 of that of Sweden. The rose blooms forever on the royal coatof-arms 

 of England. — Farm and Fireside. 



