THE SEASON OF FLOWERS 187 



After the roses comes the mid-summer carnival 

 of less exquisite but stronger, more decorative 

 and more abundant flowers; but there are many 

 that make the fields and roadsides showy, and 

 yet are useless for bouquets, such as the red 

 phlox, the puccoons and the lupines, for when 

 picked they shed their corollas in deep dejection. 

 The shooting-stars and gaudy painted-cups 

 that are so effective in masses in the fields, are 

 not strong enough in texture or color to be useful. 

 Even the blue iris, the haughty fleur-de-lis, be- 

 comes a mass of corruption when cut and in 

 water. I used to class the blue vervain of the 

 vacant lots with the unpickables, but I know 

 better now. If you put the stems immediately 

 into water, it will hold its erect freshness and 

 make a charming table decoration. 



Our favorite flowers for decorating house or 

 church or child-garden are the large white golden- 

 eyed daisies. You can take them by the arm 

 load and wagon load and no one misses them, 

 and next year you can take just as many more. 

 They grow at Tracy, Homewood, Willow Springs 

 and out the "Archey Road"; but this last place 

 I will not locate, for they are on the land of an 

 irate foreigner who is likely to shoot you for 

 trespassing. The daisies are killing out his 



