CHAPTER I 

 FLOWERS AND THE HOME 



BACON, in the famous essay that is an eternal 

 joy to the flower lover, maintains that a garden 

 is "the Purest of Humane pleasures." Certainly 

 all will agree that it is among the purest. 



In the nature of things it can be such only by 

 so close an association with the home as to be 

 "part and parcel" of it, as they say in New Eng- 

 land. And the more intimate this association the 

 more nearly does the garden approximate the Ba- 

 conian estimate that it is "the Greatest Refresh- 

 ment to the Spirits of Man." 



There must be gardenless homes in these days, 

 more's the pity. But wherever the garden, mean- 

 ing more particularly the garden of flowers, comes 

 into human life the first thought of all should be 

 its affinity with the home. Unfortunately, this is 

 only too often the very last thought; worse yet, 

 many go on to the end of their existence without 

 realizing the supreme experience. 



What is a flower garden? Doubtless some 

 would say, if one may judge them by their works, 

 that it is a highly decorative frame for the house, 



I 



