and a half inches across, in rose, blue, white, va- 

 riegated and red. One of the meekest moments of 

 my life was when Mrs. Francis asked me : " Have 

 you ever put a ruffle on a flower.'' " ' I could only 

 shake my head negatively and make amends by my 

 homage to the woman who had. 



Cornflowers 



Of course we can never reflect the sky too often 

 in our garden, so all blue flowers are to be grown 

 profusely. Of these the king is the cornflower, 

 frankly claiming its royalty by its title of Kaiser 

 hlumen. It is at its best in masses where it does not 

 need, nor make you desire, any other flower to perfect 

 the beauty. Then sprinkled throughout the garden, 

 preferably near the white and golden flowers, it is 

 also a harmonizer; I am not yet patriotic enough to 

 enjoy the cornflower in close proximity to red blos- 

 soms. 



Sweet Sultans 



The other variety of cornflowers dubs itself 

 sweet sultan, denoting an evidently unique virtue in 

 Turkish royalty. The sultans pretend to a greater 

 aristocracy than their blue German kindred, by being 



26 



