THE FLOWER GARDEN. 83 



It is not necessary to begin on a grand scale. A little 

 money for seeds and shrubs, and a little half-hour out of 

 the day will go an astonishing ways, and amply repay the 

 expenditure. A large garden, with a great variety of 

 flowers and shrubs, would require the constant attention 

 of at least one pair of hands to keep it in suitable condi- 

 tion, and this, in most farm-homes, cannot be afforded. 

 It is the little plat well-tilled that the average farm-wife 

 has time for ; and greater satisfaction and more splendid 

 results come from a few well-chosen plants thoroughly 

 cultivated, than from a great mass of things only half 

 looked after. 



In the country, where congenial soils, manures, ample 

 grounds, and the right sort of exposure are always easily 

 secured, it is a wonder that every farm-house is not re- 

 fined and adorned in this way. And yet, around thous- 

 ands of country homes, flower-cultivation is either ignored 

 altogether, or confined to a lilac bush more or less strag- 

 gling, and maybe a tuft of striped grass or "live-forever," 

 to keep it company. This state of things is owing, not 

 so much to an indifference to beautiful things, as to the 

 feeling that there is no time for them. I am afraid, too, 

 that in some instances the "good man" is answerable 

 for the lack of pretty flowers and neat walks about his 

 house, having a mistaken idea that a flower garden is 

 nonsense, and that nothing is profitable unless it can be 

 weighed or measured and toted off to market. This is 

 the sort of man that makes farm-life abominable, for his 

 scorn of a few lily-bulbs and roses does not end with 

 them, but is apt to be poured out on other forms of every- 

 day beauty and comfort. His wife's face gets the solemn 

 unhopeful look seen too often on women's faces, his sons 

 turn away from farming in disgust, and his daughters 

 will be apt to think twice before they marry farmers. 



However, something can be done with even such a de- 

 pressing curmudgeon at the head of the family. No 



