SUMMER MEETIIVG AT LOUISIANA. 53 



ranged. These all tend to lift up and purify our hearts. The rose 

 stands at the head of all flowers. The Geranium comes next. It stands 

 our hot sun and endures hardships better than any other class. Then 

 comes the Verbena and the Pansy, a wonderful little thing which has 

 eyes like man, and must be cared for in partial shade. Flowers are 

 appropriate and beautiful for occasions of joy and of sorrow. We 

 use them for the wedding, and they are the last emblems which we use 

 upon the graves of our friends. 



Mr. J/cInUre — I find flower growing a very pleasant business, and 

 the more I work in it the more I like it. I am very sorry I did not 

 bring some flowers with me to-day. 



Mr. Goodman — In our local society we offer a premium for the best 

 boquet, and when the premium is awarded we sell the flowers to the 

 highest bidder. Sometimes a little hand bouquet will bring fifty* 

 seventy-five cents or even a dollar and seventy-five cents. In all our 

 horticultural work we do not neglect the flowers. We find in walking up 

 and down the streets of this city that they have been greatly neglected. 



Mr. Broicn — It is a good plan to encourage the ladies to get up a 

 floral society, and they will help you out. I believe a society of this 

 kind is one of the best things to help us appreciate the use and beauty 

 of flowers. 



Mr HoUand — I have charge of the floral department in the Insane 

 Asylum at Fulton, and I never fully realized the good of flowers until 

 I went there. It does one good to see how the inmates of that insti- 

 tution appreciate flowers. I rememember a poor unfortunate lady who 

 admired the flowers and wished that she could have a few for her own. 

 To give her a few flowers was a real pleasure. How any person can 

 understand and watch the growth of plants and say there is no God is 

 astonishing to me. If we would study the growth and nature of 

 flowery I think we would all be interested in them. Nothing can be 

 more cheering than to see flowers. Is there any money in it ? Is 

 there any money in making home bright and pleasant, and those we 

 love cheerful and contented? We do not take pride and pains enough 

 in our flower yards. We are deficient in Missouri in this respect. 



J/r. Bryant — Is there money in keeping your boys at home by 

 making it beautiful ? 



