AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 345 



triflfling expense. My ambition was fired ; I gave my husband no peace 

 until he had the kitchen garden removed to the rear of the house, and re- 

 moved the fence which separated the old kitchen garden and the door-yard, 

 thus making a fine little lawn. 1 got a man to help me — not a gardener — 

 we have no professed gardeners within ten miles. I drew the plan of my 

 flower-beds myself, and had the man cut them out of the turf in the desired 

 orras. 



Previous to this, I persuaded three or four housewives — all mothers of 

 families, with plenty to do — to join me in sending for flower seeds and 

 roots. There we exchanged with each other, thus obtaining a fine variety 

 at a small expense. We followed the directions given in the catalogue, 

 and were very successful with the most delicate seeds. Mv lawn was 

 beautiful; indeed, so rich and varied were the eff'ects of French and 

 German asters. German balsams, German stocks, English pan?ies, phloxes, 

 verbenas and dahlias, fioni seed the firi^t season, that my husband, who 

 had at first ridiculed my flower-venture, was obliged to acknowledge its 

 success. 



Last Fall I sent for a few hyacinth, crocus, and early tulip bulbs, and 

 had a fine display of flowers in our living room, during the dreary Winter 

 months. My room is even now filled with the exquisite fragrance of 

 hyacinths, which still continue in bloom. I hope this article will attract 

 the attention of my toil-worm sisters : they can have no idea what a 

 source of purest enjoyment the cultivation of flowers will be to them. Its 

 influence has been very beneficial to my little ones, who watch the expansion 

 of the delicate and wonderful buds with an interest fully equal to my own. 



Mr. Robinson continued. — I hope this pleasant letter will stimulate a 

 great many other housewives not to give husbands any peace until they 

 give their wives lawns and flower gardens. 



The next letter is from Ruth Lynde, of New Bedford, Mass., about the 

 cause of grass near the house running out. It says : 



I read with interest the account of the Farmers' Club meetings, and 

 noticed in the last, complaints about weedy grass plots. 



I will give you the result of my observations, and you may communicate 

 them if you think them of suSicient importance to the Club. 



I have had the grass destroyed in the manner described at two difi"erent 

 places where I have resided, and found the same cause productive of the 

 same result at each. 



During the Winter and Spring, the servant girls were in the habit of 

 throwing soaps suds after washing clothes or dishes, upon the grass plot, 

 and I noticed invariably that the plantain and sorrel came up instead of 

 the grass. Here at my mother's, I have a bit of garden, and tht,re is a grass 

 plot also, and since I urged upon her notice the ill effect of soap suds upon 

 the grass, and she commanded its discontinuance, the grass has come in 

 again, and much white clover with it. Most houses in the country have a 

 patch of plantain around the kitchen doors, and the same habit of throw- 

 ing out sudsy water is the cause of its growth. 



