A FARMER'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



233 



usually given to grounds around the homes 

 of ordinarily well-to-do persons in what is 

 often called the residential sections of the 

 city. Usually little attention is paid to the 

 ground until the house is nearly completed, 

 then the grader is called in, who recom- 

 mends a ' nice growing grade from the 

 house to the sidewalk.' The nurseryman 

 suggests the planting of angles or borders, 

 a walk is added, many times great efforts 

 are made to have it curved when a straight 

 one would be a hundred times better; trees 

 are planted on the street line and one or two 

 on the lawn, and the grounds are completed, 

 with a tendency toward ornateness instead 

 of that greater charm, simplicity. The 

 owner usually has spent more than he ex- 

 pected in the house and desires to economize 

 on the grounds. A hundred dollars or less 

 is the sum often mentioned as the limit. All 

 this means a low grade of work, . want of 

 thoroughness in the doing, and lack of satis- 



faction in results. It sets a low standard 

 for the ideal. Now, if the builders of 

 homes would recognize from the beginning 

 that the grounds must cost for thorough 

 work from i-io to 34 what the house itself 

 costs, and that they will cost as much to fur- 

 nish as the average cost of furnishing a 

 room inside, then the owner would find in 

 his outdoor room of his home the satisfac- 

 tion and contentment which ought to come 

 from it. He would always have a library 

 of nature's writings at hand where a new 

 and beautiful book would open for his plea- 

 sure every day. He would have an out- 

 door art gallery filled with pictures of the 

 most beautiful colorings, with statues of a 

 most exquisite form, and besides that, and 

 more in line with the purpose of this paper, 

 his knowledge and appreciation of the best 

 at his home would lead him to expect and 

 demand, the best for the parks of his 

 city." 



A FARMER'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



^r^HE plot chosen is one upon which snow 

 X lies continuously and deeply all the 

 winter, thaws being rare and short in this 

 region. In consequence the ground is kept 

 free from frost, and as soon as the snow 

 melts the Snowdrops and Crocus appear, to- 

 gether with the annual seedlings in great 

 profusion, one after the other, as the tem- 

 perature of the soil rises. Skill in the re- 

 cognition of these seedlings by their seed- 

 leaves is an essential element in the carry- 

 ing out of the plan of this garden. Millions 

 of them are scraped out by the cross-scor- 

 ings of a narrow hoe, yet enough of all are 

 preserved to entirely cover the ground at 

 maturity. Thinning is systematically prac- 

 ticed with a view not only to uniform 

 growth, but also to succession, the earlier 

 blooming sorts being withdrawn to give 

 place and space to later ones, and these to 

 still later ones. A good deal of ingenuity 



is required, as well as judgment and precis- 

 ion, to secure successive clouds of bloom, 

 changing in one week from one color to an- 

 other, over sections and strips of ground. 

 It is like the playing of a game. 



An inexperienced person would be sur- 

 prised at the vast quantity of cut flowers 

 yielded by this inexpensive garden. 

 Churches and private houses are decorated 

 with its products and the guests of several 

 large summer hotels are supplied with bou- 

 quets most lavishly. Though the garden 

 was started without a thought of profit, as 

 much money has been realized from it as 

 could be gained by any other crop. But the 

 chief benefit arising to the owner is in the 

 mental and moral stimulus it affords, and 

 the change from mere business farming to 

 something in the nature of a fine art, how- 

 ever humble in reality it may seem to others. 

 — Vick's Magazine. 



