INTRODUCTION. 11 



dear madam. But has your experience thus far in life 

 failed to teach you that all the good things of God come 

 but from our own exertions ? Are they not the dearer to 

 us because we have labored to bring them home ? 



Yet again I touch my theme : I would teach you how 

 to have the finest flowers with the least trouble. 



" But flowers in a room are so unhealthy !" exclaims the 

 nervously sensitive. 



By no means. " Do they not exhale poisonous gases ? " 

 But slightly ; and never can the few plants you would have 

 produce enough to be hurtful. 



The smallest lamp burning in your bedroom will poison 

 the air, by abstracting its oxygen, more than a whole bay 

 window full of plants. 



There are, however, two other considerations which 

 should not be overlooked the effect of powerful perfumes 

 from flowers, which, being, in some cases, such as tube- 

 roses, many orchids, &c., given off very powerfully by 

 night, may cause headache by impregnating the air ; and 

 the dampness, which is exhaled from plants in pots. 



What, however, can be easier than the remedy, in the 

 former case ? Simply remove the blooming plants from the 

 room at night. 



