CHAPTER I 
FLOWERS AND THE HOME 
BACON, in the famous essay that is an eternal 
joy to the flower lover, maintains that a garden 
is “the Purest of Humane pleasures.” Certainly 
all will agree that it is among the purest. 
In the nature of things it can be such only by 
so close an association with the home as to be 
“part and parcel” of it, as they say in New Eng- 
land. And the more intimate this association the 
more nearly does the garden approximate the Ba- 
conian estimate that it is “the Greatest Refresh- 
ment to the Spirits of Man.” 
There must be gardenless homes in these days, 
more’s the pity. But wherever the garden, mean- 
ing more particularly the garden of flowers, comes 
into human life the first thought of all should be 
its affinity with the home. Unfortunately, this is 
only too often the very last thought; worse yet, 
many go on to the end of their existence without 
realizing the supreme experience. 
What is a flower garden? Doubtless some 
would say, if one may judge them by their works, 
that it is a highly decorative frame for the house, 
J 
