FLOWERS AND FOLIAGE OF SUMMER. 89 



A reason for this is not far to find in our changeable 

 climate, but should we not, in a large degree, attribute this 

 neglect of open-air enjoyments to a lack of genuine appre- 

 ciation of the sweet influences of nature ? We are apt to 

 talk much of the beauties of nature after taking homoeo- 

 pathic doses of Ruskin and visiting the White Mountains. 

 As a nation, however, I fear, we are not lovers of the open 

 air, except for purposes of business or of pleasure that 

 hardly involve much direct relation with nature. 



Since, however, we are forced to dwell more or less in 

 the open air in July and August, constrained by fashion 

 and the heat of the weather, it is all the more reason- 

 able to make the exterior of the house attractive, and 

 to take the opportunity of making this fashion a means of 

 gradually developing a more widespread love of nature. 



Of the three main features of the lawn flowers, 

 foliage, and grass, the first, though important, are least so, 

 simply because we can have so few flowers in midsummer. 

 Foliage is, with its shade-giving quality, perhaps the most 

 important, although for those who have realized to what 

 excellence lawn grass can be developed, turf becomes 

 scarcely less valuable. 



Maintenance of lawns is not well understood in this 

 country, as a rule, and although it must be acknowledged 

 that the stress of our summer suns is at times terrible, I be- 

 lieve wonders could be accomplished, indeed I may say are 

 accomplished in isolated cases, by skill and untiring labor. 

 When we learn to give as solicitous attention to perfecting 

 our green sward as we expend on the coats of our high- 

 priced horses, \ve shall begin to realize what kind of a 



