2i6 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



of the waxy, spotted-leaved pipsissewa, together with 

 spikes and garlands of club moss. I had thought these 

 perfect when steadied by bog moss in a flat, cut-glass 

 dish, but in the birch stump they were entirely at home. 

 If these midsummer wood flowers harmonize so well, 

 how much more charming will be the blossoms of early 

 spring, a season when the white birch is quite the most 

 conspicuous tree in the landscape ! Picture dog-tooth vio- 

 lets, spring beauties, bellwort, Quaker-ladies, and great 

 tufts of violets, shading from white to deepest blue, in 

 such a setting ! Or, of garden things, poets' narcissus 

 and lilies-of-the- valley ! 



Other receptacles of a like kind we have in different 

 stages of progress, made of the wood of sassafras, oak, 

 beech, and hackberry, together with several irregular 

 stumps of lichen-covered cedar. Two long limbs with 

 several short side branches Bart has flattened on the 

 back and arranged with picture- hooks, so that they can 

 be bracketed against the frame of the living-room door, 

 opposite the flower-greeting table that I have fashioned 

 after yours. These are to be used for vines, and I 

 shall try to keep this wide, open portal cheerfully 

 garlanded. 



The first week of my flower wardenship was a most 

 strenuous one. I use the word reluctantly, but having 



