178 GARDENING WITH BRAINS 



The use of this knowledge has made me a 

 superepicure in matters gastronomic, and also 

 in the enjoyment of natural perfumery, which I 

 wouldn't exchange for all the wealth of a Rocke- 

 feller. The fragrance of flowers exhilarates and 

 intoxicates me like the music of Schubert, 

 Chopin, Wagner, or Grieg. When I can have 

 that I do not miss the bouquet of vintage wines, 

 of which the excesses of whisky drinkers have 

 unjustly deprived me. 



NATURAL PERFUMES BEST 



Prohibition would never have been necessary 

 had those who engineered it taken pains, 

 instead, to train the senses of children to prefer 

 a delicate bouquet to a gross stimulant. 



The art of perfumery has a great future. The 

 artificial coal-tar perfumes from Germany have 

 temporarily damaged a good cause, but the 

 infinitely more refined and individual odors of 

 flowers will drive them out again in due time. 

 Natural perfumery, condensed from flowers, is 

 necessarily expensive, but in our gardens we 

 can all enjoy it for a trifling cost. 



Most people feel that they must be allowed 

 some sensual delights. As ex-President Eliot of 

 Harvard once said, "Men are animals and have 

 a right to enjoy without reproach those pleasures 

 of animal existence which maintain health, 

 strength, and life itself." Of all these pleasures 

 the enjoyment of the fragrant soul of flowers is 



