66 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and therefore are tliemselves lacking in the virility of which thej- deem 

 the flower-lover destitute. 



Yet, I think, men generally like flowers, though in an indefinite sort of 

 way. They may not be able to tell which is a daisy and which a holly- 

 hock, 3'et like to see them about the premises if only someone else will do 

 the puttering work, as they view it, of caring for them. 



I shall address myself solely to men in this paper, for I much desire to 

 see a reform in this regard; for men really have more time than have their 

 wives, which may be devoted to care of their premises. I ardently wish 

 that every householder in Traverse City could be induced to begin next 

 spring, and devote a few minutes each morning and after supper, one or 

 both, to the floral adornment of his front yard and back garden. There 

 is more satisfaction in it than in grumbling because breakfast is not 

 ready, and more health than in any other way he can pass the hours of 

 twilight. The wife has enough to do within doors, both of practical 

 household duties and in making that part of the home comfortable and 

 pretty. If she can also find time, and has the inclination, to help in the 

 out-door work, very well. It will do her both physical and mental good, 

 and you can find no better help. But when a man takes upon himself 

 the maintenance of a home, it is as much his duty to make its outside 

 pleasant as it is to make himself pleasant wiien inside of it. 



I regret to say that most dwelling places of men are scars, more or 

 less hideous, upon the face of the earth. Poor, insulted nature strives 

 constantly to repair the defacement, but her struggles are mainly in vain. 

 This is no less true of the country than of the village home. 



Now, gentlemen of Traverse City, perhaps you think you have no taste 

 for, nor interest in, such things; but in this I am sure most of you are 

 quite mistaken. If you but make a beginning, you will be surprised to 

 find that you really have taste and liking for such work, but liave reso- 

 lutely suppressed it. What I desire is that you give it a chance for 

 development. 



I presume that others will tell of the use of flowers in parks. I know 

 but little of that, and so I would better have nothing to say. I can not 

 refrain, however, from remarking that much of the floral adornment of 

 parks and public grounds is coarse and shocking, producing much the 

 same effect as we get from ''Hundred doses for a dollar" in ten-foot 

 yellow letters upon barns, roofs, and walls. 



Not every man in town and country can have a lawn which wall look 

 well all summer, for lawns must have much w^ater; but every man may 

 have shrubs and flowers. Have the lawn, by all means, and do the best 

 you can with it, but have the flowers anyhow\ They do not require much 

 time. To presume that they do is a great mistake. I am often asked, 

 by friends to whom with pleasure I am showing my garden of flowers and 

 vegetables, "Where do you get the time? It must take lots of it." But 

 it does not. If it did. though, I would still have the flowers. And some- 

 times they assure me, "You ought to have been a woman!" and I am 

 left in doubt as to whether they mean it in compliment. 



If you know enough to use a spade, a hoe, and a rake, you can have 

 flowers the season through, and make your grounds, even if but a single 

 village lot, a spot of beauty instead of a sight of offense to the passer by, 



