284 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of autumn. The tired wife can rest lierself every day in com- 

 panionship with the finest hehaved and hest dressed company 

 the earth affords. She can tai^e a vacation in an Elysium of 

 her own, which is far better and ciieaper than a vacation in 

 an asylum or a longer one in the cemetery. The soul of a 

 woman is starving for communion with beauty. Let her have 

 it. Don't defraud her of her own. 



I can not go into details over propagation and cultivation, 

 as we have manuals which give needed information. 



First come the crocus, narcissus, tulips and hyacinths, har- 

 bingers of coming splendor. There is the lovely family of 

 columbines. These use all the tints of the rainbow in making 

 their garments. The coerulea, state flower of Colorado, is a 

 photograph of the fleecy clouds and the intense blue of the 

 mountain skies. The chrysantha is a flower of pure gold from 

 the Yellowstone park. There are fifty native sorts, v, ith hun- 

 dreds of hybrids, many of which surpass the parents. It is 

 hard to find a more beautiful spectacle than a great blend of 

 color in a mass of columbines. Why don't people plant in 

 abundance and so match God's great out of doors? It is a 

 shame to expect two or three little flowers to adorn the farm 

 or home. 



STRICKEN W^ITH STINGINESS. 



People spend thousands on their dwellings, but when they 

 step out of doors they are stricken with a stinginess which 

 fairly withers them. If they have to pay more than a quarter 

 for anything to adorn the yard they are terribly abused. A 

 thousand-dollar picture in a ten-cent frame seems to be their 

 ideal. 



Oriental poppies are like flames flashing in the sunlight. 

 A bed of them like a miniature sea of fire. They will bloom 

 from the same plant for twenty years. Take a single flower, 

 look within and see the delicate skill bestowed on that great 

 seed ball and the tremulous stamens that guard it — all done 

 up in jet. 



