42 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



The Love of Flowers 



BERTHA BERBERT-HAMMOND 



How beaatiful is a flower ! 

 It is like the soul of a child 

 Set free and growing wild 

 In the sunshine and the shower. 



So fragrant, so fair, so true! 

 Of the spirit's texture spun, 

 It smiles with the smiling sun. 

 And it weeps with the weeping dew. 



God loves it — and why not we? 

 'Tis a face with a soul a-shine, 

 'Tis a thought of the mind Divine, 

 'Tis a hint of the life to be. 



AS flowers are one of Nature's choicest and most 

 beautiful gifts to mankind, and appear almost 

 human in some of their characteristics, it is c^uite 

 natural for those who know tiowers to entertain a sort of 

 feeling of friendship and warm affection for them. An 

 admiration for these "stars that on earth's tirmament do 

 shine'' is enshrined in the heart of every lover of the 

 beautiful, and fortunately, it is no longer considered 

 effeminate for our boys and men to display their love and 

 appreciation of flowers. 



Many of the European nations have been in advance of 

 us in floral appreciation. Concrete evidence of the appre- 

 ciation and love of flowers is found in Japan in the almost 

 universal use of names of flowers in the naming of the 

 daughters of the nation and in the designation of their 

 festivals and of certain parts of the year. The Japanese 

 words for cherry-blossom and for chrysanthemum are 

 commonly used as names for girls, and plum and cherry 

 blossom time are observed in the Spring and maple-leaf 

 and chrysanthemum season in the Autumn. 



The educational and ethical value of a love of flowers 

 cannot be doubted. The appreciation of the miracle of 

 growing things, and the love of the beautiful instilled 

 into the receptive mind of a child will almost invariably 

 exert ari influence that will tend to develop the finer side 

 of the character. As the love of flowers seems innate in 

 a child, it is necessary only to encourage and stinudate 

 this natural tendency and direct and guide the enthusiasm 

 until an intelligent and permanent interest may be estab- 

 lished, one that will foster the best development of the 

 individual. With a set of garden tools, carefully chosen 

 in regard to their suitability and adajHation to the size 

 and strength of the child, there is no e.xercise that is Hkely 

 to prove more healthful, and fascinating than a moderate 

 amount of digging and delving in the ground. Some 

 persons claim that ihi- nearness to Mother Earth, and the 



actual contact of the hands with the soil, exerts a sooth- 

 ing efi'ect on the nerves that is almost magical, and that 

 the transmission of vital currents is elifected from the 

 humus in the soil to the human body. John Dryden al- 

 ludes to the jjotentialities of outdoor exercise in the fol- 

 lowing stanza : 



Better to hunt in fields for health unbought 

 Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. 

 The wise for cure on exercise depend ; 

 God never made His work for man to mend. 



The constant association with the soil and growing 

 things will leave a luark that is not readily elTaced. In 

 her book entitled "Freckles,'' Gene Stratton-Porter says 

 with truth : "Nature can be trusted to work her own 

 miracle in the heart of any man whose daily task keeps 

 him alone among her sights, sounds, and silences." 

 Those outdoor workers who have labored understand- 

 ingly and in harmony with Nature, have come to believe 

 that there is a tangible reciprocity between the skilled 

 gardener, the soil and the plant kingdom that gives ample 

 evidence of a responsive higher power, without which the 

 miracles of field and garden would not be possible. We 

 may dig the soil, plant the seed, but without the co-opera- 

 tion of that great and beneficent power, which pervades 

 the universe, our labors would he in vain. 



There is something in the composition of normal man- 

 kind that demands communion with the outdoors. For 

 centuries man has taken enjoyment and comfort in "green 

 growing things.'' Dion Clayton Calthrop says : "To 

 garden is part of everv man's philosophy. To sow the 

 seeds, to watch the tender shoots come out and brave the 

 light and rain, to see the buds lift up their heads, and 

 then to catch one's breath as the flowers open and disi)lay 

 their precious colors, living, breathing jewels, is enough 

 to lii e for." 



Even when grown for pleasure only, flowers have and 

 hold an important place in the economy of life. They 

 exert an uplifting and refining influence that is within 

 reach of thousands of pensons who by circumstances are 

 denied the refinements and the aesthetic joys of good 

 music and fine paintings. That person who has in his 

 heart a:i unaffected love for flowers, has within himself an 

 unfailing source of ])loasure and comfort and a capacity 

 for a keen appreciation of the higher things of life. .Xs 

 F. W. Rurbridge writes: "Devotion to Flora as a queen 

 among us is as yet a living truth, and among or around 

 the hearts of all true ganlcncrs there is woven a thread of 

 twisted oold."' 



A Famous Roof Garden 



GEORGE CECIL 



ALTI1()L'GH a roof-garden is nut an uncnmiiHiU 

 thing, one which includes fruit and vegetables, in 

 addition to the usual shrubs and flowers, is a nov- 

 elty. A garden of this description is to be found in 

 Paris — located on the leaden roof of the Louvre. 



Seventy-one years ago the chief custodian of the 

 Louvre leads i)incd tor some means whereby hi- might 



utilize his leisure, and, at the same time, l)c;iutify the 

 large expanse of flat roof in his charge. One fine day 

 the plomhirr en chef was struck by the idea to convert the 

 leads over the Colonnade into a roof garden. "Figure to 

 vonrself," .said he to a .sympathetic friend, "the .space is 

 iiere, the i)lcssed sun shines in .iliinidance, and I have 

 watc)- to spare. Win-, tlu-n, ^linnld 1 not construct a 



