Chapter I 

 COMPANIONSHIP OF FLOWERS 



Flowers in Early Literature 



' I 'HE task of discovering a time or place when men 

 ■*■ first began to take pleasure in the companion- 

 ship of flowers is too large an undertaking to attempt 

 in connection with this short treatise. Practically 

 all references to flowers in earlier literature took on 

 symbolic or art phases and never portrayed them as 

 intimate companions or household pets in the sense 

 that we refer to them in this book. Nevertheless, 

 it is essential that this peculiar relationship be set 

 up before one can succeed in their cultivation. 



Plants as Living, Feeling Things 



In other words, plants must be considered as 

 living, feeling things, just as one considers a canary, 

 a pet dog, or even a child. Absence of this realization 

 is a fundamental cause of failure in the cultivation 

 of plants. Any. person who can see a plant exces- 

 sively dry, or standing for a long time in deep water, 

 or covered with insects, or taken from a warm room 

 and placed out of doors in the cold rain of a Spring 

 day, and does not realize that it is suff'ering in its way 

 just as much as an animal would under like adverse 

 conditions, has not attained the mental attitude that 

 will allow her to take delight in or make a success 

 of the cultivation of flowers. 



