THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



they run to flowers, but on good soil they run to 

 vines. It is a proverb with me that in spring you 

 cannot get too many daffodils, and in summer and 

 autumn you cannot get too many nasturtiums. I 

 occasionally indulge in stocks, and wall-flowers, 

 and petunias, but I am writing for those who want 

 lots of flowers without having to work too hard to 

 get them. Snapdragons are fine for late bloom, 

 and sweet alyssum. 



Try each year one or two of the new novelties 

 — and occasionally you will be glad that you did. 

 You should have a dahlia craze, or canna craze, 

 or a carnation fever about once in five years; 

 and when you do you should do your very best 

 with these noble plants. Begonias are even better 

 for a cottage home. I append a list of eleven 

 flowering begonias, which I conceive to be among 

 the very best: Alba picta, argentea guttata, gloire 

 de Lorraine, decorus, dewdrop, vernon, rubra 

 Sandersonii, President Carnot, robusta, hybrida 

 multiflora, Bismarck. A list of fifteen ever- 

 blooming cannas may be of use to some of my 

 readers. I should select as the finest that I have 

 ever grown, Austria, Alsace, Alphonse Bouvier, 

 Charles Henderson, Florence Vaughn, Duke of 



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