318 Old Time Gardens 



yet how quickly, in the hothouse Violets, can the 

 scent become nauseous. I recall one formal lunch- 

 eon whereat the many tables were mightily massed 

 with violets ; and though all looked as fresh as day- 

 break to the sight, some must have been gathered 

 for a day or more, and the stale odor throughout 

 the room was unbearable. But it is scarcely fair to 

 decry a flower because of its scent in decay. Shake- 

 speare wrote : 



"Lilies festered smell far worse than weeds." 



Many of our Compositae are vile after standing in 

 water in vases ; Ox-eye Daisies, Rudbeckia, Zinnia, 

 Sunflower, and even the wholesome Marigold. 

 Delicate as is the scent of the Pansy, the smell of 

 a bed of ancient Pansy plants is bad beyond words. 

 The scent of the flowers of fruit-bearing trees is 

 usually delightful ; but I cannot like the scent of 

 p ear blossoms. 



I dislike much the rank smell of common yellow 

 Daffodils and of many of that family. I can scarcely 

 tolerate them even when freshly picked, upon a din- 

 ner table. Some of the Jonquils are as sickening 

 within doors as the Tuberose, though in both cases 

 it is only because the scent is confined that it is cloy- 

 ing. In the open air, at a slight distance, they smell 

 as well as many Lilies, and the Poet's Narcissus is 

 deemed by many delightful. 



I have ever found the scent of Lilacs somewhat 

 imperfect, not well rounded, not wholly satisfying; 

 but one of my friends can never find in a bunch of 

 our spring Lilacs any odor save that of illuminating 



