STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 91 



HOME DECORATION. 



By Prof. L. C. Corbett, Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C. 



"What a desolate place would be a world without a flower; 

 it would be a face without a smile — a feast without a welcome." 

 Flowers are nature's expressions of pleasure. While flowers 

 are primarily utilitarian in purpose the end is attained by attrac- 

 tive and alluring means. The beauty, fragrance, and sweetness 

 of the flower are not vain attributes ; each is designed for a 

 subtile purpose. The bright colors are the gala day attire of 

 these natural fairies to attract and allure the passerby, be he 

 insect, bird, or man. The perfume wafted upon the still" night 

 air suggests the whereabouts of the fragrant night-blooming 

 flowers to the moths and other night-flying insects ; while the 

 cups of honey at the base of the petals hold a reward for those 

 who have heeded the signal of the color or the odor. The pot 

 of nectar is a sufficient reward for the insect and the transfer of 

 pollen from anther to stigma by the clumsy but welcome guest 

 is the end for which all this beauty, fragrance, and sweetness 

 has been produced. Flowers are nature's expression of love. 

 Love makes the objects of our affection beautiful; flowers are 

 beautiful and therefore expressions of love. 



Art is but the imitation of the beautiful in nature. Men make 

 long journeys to study art, to view the masterpieces in oil and 

 crayon. Yet by bestowing a little attention upon a few tiny 

 plants, nature's artists will throw over the canvas of mother earth 

 a background of green upon which she will paint the purity of 

 the lily or the ardor of the rose. If you will but give her the 

 suggestion of your wishes in the form of a few choice seeds, 

 nature will paint for you the rich shades of the pansy or the 

 phlox ; she will carpet your floor with a velvet rug of green and 

 strew upon its surface in bold contrast the golden disks of the 

 dandelion or the bright saucy faces of the crocus. She will 

 drape your walls with a festoon of green and hide therein rich 

 gems of purple, of crimson, and of white, and if you ask it, she 

 will screen one apartment from another with barriers of green 



