THECOUNTRY HOME [chapter 



aside coarser plants that do not add to the refine- 

 ment of your lawn. For this reason I discard bal- 

 sams and zinnias, holding that the despised nose 

 has special rights in a flower garden. But we shall 

 do well to go farther, as most of the annuals take 

 more time and room than they are worth. The 

 culture of flowers ought always to go on with the 

 culture of ourselves. When we discard second- 

 rate things it shows that we are growing; the flower 

 garden is enlightening us, and not merely pleasing 

 us. 



Do not be too sure that single flowers are always 

 the more beautiful. There is beauty in geometry 

 and mathematics ; so there is in the symmetrical ar- 

 rangement of dahlia petals, and in the fine art of 

 the General Jack rose. Some flowers are more 

 beautiful in their single specimens, because only in 

 these can the fine penciling of nature be displayed 

 — as in the gladiolus and the salpiglossis. A dou- 

 ble hollyhock may, however, be the climax of shad- 

 ing and color, as well as of artistic arrangement. 



Of course every woman who makes a country 

 home will have her favorite flowers, which she will 

 desire to multiply; then in all neighborhoods there 

 are flowers which have secured a special welcome, 



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