80 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1893. 



few of our purses are long enough to justify the expense incident to 

 their suitable maintenance. The greater part of our lawns are small 

 and poorly kept, and therefore the most we can do is to adorn them 

 with simple and modest flower-beds, in harmony with their surround- 

 ings. A well-kept bed of tulips, dahlias, zinnias, asters, nasturtiums, 

 is always a beautiful sight, and when properly located is sure to be 

 an addition to the beauty of any lawn. As a rule, each bed should 

 contain one species only, but sometimes a border of flowers or foliage 

 plants of harmonious color may be used with good effect. An enthu- 

 siast is quite apt to have a passion for novelty and variety in the pur- 

 suit of his favorite object, and a passionate lover of flowers is 

 usually possessed with a desire to raise all the kinds known to the 

 florist. In times past I have been badly affected with this disease, 

 but luckily I have recovered, and I now know that there is more 

 pleasure to be had from a few beds of favorite flowers arrauged in 

 masses of the same species, than from any number of intermixed 

 flower-beds constituting crazy combinations of things without form, 

 and void of beauty. It is said that a true painter employs only a 

 few colors in his masterpieces, and so the tasteful housewife will cul- 

 tivate only a few species of the most beautiful flowers, and will mass 

 each kind by itself in such a way as to make up a harmonious com- 

 bination. If one wants a bed of intermixed flowers from which to 

 gather bouquets, let it be placed in some nook or corner in the remote 

 part of the lawn, where it can only be seen from a distance by the 

 passer-by. The distance may lend enchantment to the view, but we 

 may rest assured that its nearness will not add any beauty to the 

 scene. 



Hollyhocks, sweet peas and sun-flowers, look best in rows or clus- 

 ters against a background of shrubbery or a structure of some kind. 



There are many beautiful flowering vines and creepers which are 

 very ornamental and picturesque when rightly located. A brick or 

 stone house can almost always be decorated to advantage with vines 

 and creepers, and sometimes when the porch or piazza of a wooden 

 house is overhung with climbing plants an air of comfort and happi- 

 ness is given to the dwelling which it would not otherwise have. 

 Sometimes a stone wall, a dead tree, or some other object, is just the 

 thing to display with excellent effect the beauty and gracefulness of 

 some climbing vines. 



A place for one or more climbing plants can always be found 

 around every country house. A cluster of sweet-scented honeysuckle 

 or of a fragrant and blooming clematis on a trellis, near the house. 



