246 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



with the beauty of those creations of their own. One gentleman said 

 that from some seedlings there was one flower he would not take $10. 

 and that from another he was selling at 50 cents apiece. With a little 

 care and research you will get at the fountain head. 



This study is one of the most beautiful experience that you can have 

 and you don't know when to stop. You are in the very land of Elysium, 

 the land of delight. Commence raising phlox and when you get some 

 new creations you are fascinated with them. You look at them one 

 day, and the next day, and then you raise some more and you want to 

 visit these, and then you are in the edge of the unknown and out of the 

 invisible, and there comes to you forms of loveliness which your eye has 

 never seen, and you can originate new ones. You don't h'ave to pay a 

 high price for them. Perhaps 2.5 or 50 cents apiece will give you a good 

 start. Don't rest with one or two specimens. A lady once said she only 

 wanted three. I said you want more. 



Plant an abundance. Surround yourself with plenty of these things. 

 You can so arrange it so as to have a procession of beauty from earlj 

 spring until late fall. First of all, the tulips; then comes the columbines 

 which use up all the colors of the rainbow; then those oriental poppies, 

 mixed with some single flowers, 9 inches across with their bloom of 

 scarlet; then a little further on the peonies come in bloom, vieing with 

 each other as if on dress parade. Go out and see them drill; they are like 

 so many maidens each trying to see which can put on the most beauti- 

 ful garment as if preparing for their nuptials. These annuals are very 

 beautiful. When you plant them they stay planted. You can depend upon 

 them year after year. Next in this beauty procession comes the phloxes. 

 They commence blooming in July and continue blooming until frost. 

 So all along your pathway you can follow up this procession of beauti- 

 ful blooming flowers by a tasteful arrangement of the lawn. Thirty-five 

 dollars will fix up that yard and make it a fit accompaniment to the 

 flowers to make that home beautiful, and in that way will have the 

 appearance of a two or three thousand dollar mansion. A house will 

 begin to depreciate, and if you put in fine furniture it will soon begin to 

 depreciate and afterwards will be second-hand. But if you plant trees 

 and adorn your lot and lawn it will ever be on the increase in value. 

 I have known many instances where the owner would not accept $100 

 apiece for his trees, and some trees that $500 would not buy. A lot and 

 a home under these conditions grows in value. Surrounded by such an 

 ideal home you will not want any vacation — the only vacation you will 

 want will be time to go out and enjoy them. 



THE PEONY. 



Here we come to the queen of flowers. There is probably nothing in 

 all the range of floral beauty which for effectiveness compares with this. 

 A field of acres in all the splendor of loveliness is one of the grandest 

 spectacles on earth. The rose has long held her position as the queen 



