CHAPTER XXIV 
FLOWERS 
P “NHERE are a number of greenhouse crops 
which are easily within the reach of the 
amateur who has at his disposal a small 
glass structure. One is apt to feel that something 
much more elaborate than the simple means at his 
hands are required to produce the handsome flowers 
or beautiful ferns which may be seen in the florist’s 
window. It is true that many things are beyond 
his achievement. He cannot grow gigantic Amer- 
ican Beauties on stems several feet long, nor pre-~ 
sent his friends at Christmas with the most delicate 
orchids; but he can very easily have carnations more 
beautiful, because they will be fresher if not quite 
so large, than any which can be had at the glass- 
fronted shops; and cyclamen as beautiful, and much 
more serviceable, than any orchid that ever hung 
from a precarious basket. ‘To accomplish such re- 
sults requires not so much elaborate equipment as 
unremitting care — and not eternal fussing but reg- 
ular thought and attention. 
There is, for instance, no more well beloved flower 
than the carnation, which entirely deserves the place 
it has won in flower-lovers’ hearts beside, if not 
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