XXIII. THE GERANIUM 



E are told that the Ge- 

 ranium is becoming so 

 "common" that many 

 who like to be exclu- 

 sive in all matters per- 

 taining to themselves, 

 do not care to grow it. 

 I am glad of this, because the plant is too good 

 a one to waste its attractions on such a desert 

 air. It should only be grown by those who 

 have a just appreciation of its merits. Those 

 who like beauty for beauty's sake, and not 

 because some snobbish person condescends 

 to set the seal of his or her approval on it, 

 will never turn the cold shoulder toward the 

 Geranium. The criticism that it is "com- 

 mon" is a compliment to it, for it means 

 that it is so accommodating in its habits 

 that it adapts itself to widely varying condi- 

 tions, and will do as well for the amateur as 

 for the professional, that it flourishes as finely 

 in the humble home as in the dwellings of the 

 rich, and makes itself a blessing where the 



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