est and river, light and trees and, lastly, near- 

 er, to, us, birds, precious stones and woman. 

 These are the ornaments o£ our planet- 

 Yet, save for the last three, which belong as 

 it were to the same smile of nature, how grave, 

 austere, almost sad would be the education of 

 our eye without the softening influence 

 which the flowers impart! Suppose, for 

 a moment, that our globe knew them not; 

 consider also all that the voice of human hap- 

 piness would lack! One of the blessed heights 

 of our soul would be almost dumb, if the flow- 

 ers had not, since centuries, fed with their 

 beauty the language which we speak and the 

 thoughts that endeavor to crystallize the most 

 precious hours of life. All the impressions of 

 love are impregnate with their breath, nour- 

 jished with their smile." 



I never tire of reading these lines of 

 Maeterlinck, I read them over and over 

 again with delight, and it seems to me 

 that we amateur gardeners, who know so 



