CHAPTER XVII 
FLOWERS FOR CUTTING 
IT is a pretty poor home garden in which no 
flowers are picked. What are they there for—mere 
show? Such gardens exist, but happily they are in 
the minority. 
There is never any need of robbing perceptibly 
the garden of its treasures, no matter how small it 
is. If the cutting is done with judgment here and 
there, and stems are taken full length, it is seldom 
that the reduction of bloom is apparent; a moder- 
ate-sized garden will often stand the loss of a 
market basket or two of its floral glory. Judg- 
ment will not err if it has back of it the knowledge 
that quantity in the case of flowers cut for the house 
is very unimportant; three stalks of lilies in 
a vase will be seen in all their beauty of form 
whereas fifty jammed into a jar together are an un- 
natural massing. 
On large estates there are special cutting gar- 
dens. This is a wholly admirable idea for even the 
smallest place. It not only relieves the garden 
proper from too much strain, but where a great 
many cut flowers are desired for the house the tract 
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