^Ccpyfignt Entry I 

 CLASS |>>^> XXc No f 

 COPY B. ^ I 



HOME AND FLOWERS 



Vol. XIV JULY, 1903 No. 3 



Copyrighted. 1903. by the Floral Publishing Company. Entered as second class matter at the Springfield, Ohio, postofHce. 



This department is under the entire charge of Mr. Eexford, and everything not signed by 

 another name is from his pen. Headers are cordially invited to correspond freely with Mr. 

 Eexford, addressing him in care of this office. 



OF course, an}^ sensible editor is 

 always glad to get adyice from his 

 readers. Very often there are hints 

 and suggestions made that are practical 

 in nature and he ayails himself gladly 

 of them. But it also happens that yery 

 much of the advice which comes to him 

 he does not consider practical, from his 

 ^standpoint. He has in mind the produc- 

 tion of a paper or a magazine of a certain 

 definite character, and this idea must in- 

 fluence his action as editor. Because of 

 this he often is obliged to pass oyer a good 

 deal of adyice that would be valuable if 

 he were free to make his magazine of 

 broader scope. I am led to say this be- 

 cause of some letters of suggestion which 

 have come to me. One writer wants 

 legends of trees, stories about the origin 

 of the names of plants, and information 

 which would be of interest to the student 

 of mythological botany — to coin a new 

 phrase. Another wants stories of plants 

 and flowers to play the most important 

 point, and still another wants strictly 

 scientific treatises on plants — "no non- 

 sense," he adds. 



^ow, these persons have eyidently mis- 

 understood the position which this mac:a- 

 zine is intended to occupy in the fieri - 

 cultural field. It is for the amateur florist, 

 and it aims to arouse an interest in flowers, 

 and tell how to grow them. It is not pub- 

 lished as a literary magazine, dealing with 

 the poetic phases of legendary and mytho- 

 logical plant life. N"or is it intended to be 

 a story magazine. (The story now run- 

 ning in it would not be there had the pub- 

 lication of it not begun before the recent 

 change was made in the character of the 

 magazine.) Nor would scientific articles 

 be suitable for use in it, because I find 

 the average amateur does not take kindly 

 to "scientific" floriculture or literature. 

 Such information as can be put to prac- 

 tical use is what he wants. Such informa- 

 tion it is my purpose to give him. Of 

 course, those who look at the matter from 

 a difl'erent standpoint may say that my 

 aim is not a high one, but — that depends. 

 There is an old saying about the man 

 who makes two blades of glass grow where 

 one grew before. He is a benefactor, they 

 tell us. He has accomplished something 



