Letters from Our Friends 



THIS letter from Mrs. M. E. Clayton, 

 Paullina, Iowa, is one that many over- 

 worked, nerve-wearied women would do 

 well to read and profit by. I know— 

 every hard-worked man or woman who has 

 tried it knows— that there is rest and relaxa- 

 tion in the garden even when we seem to be 

 engaged in hard work there. It isn't the 

 easiest of work to pull weeds or use a hoe, but 

 it is such pleasant work because we do it in 

 good company and under delightful conditions, 

 that we forget to look on it as work, and work, 

 when the hard things about it are forgotten, 

 is pleasure of the best kind. A course of 

 garden treatment is vastly superior to the man 

 or woman "with nerves" to the treatment 

 usually prescribed by the doctors. Get out in 

 the fresh air, and grow;, healthy and happy, 

 and feel lost youth coming back, and you will 

 soon become a lover of the garden for the 

 health there is in it, if not for the flowers 

 growing there. But you will soon learn to 

 love them. You can't help doing so when you 

 give them a chance to show you what delight- 

 ful companions they can be. 



"At this season many busy women feel they 

 have time scarcely to look at, much less care 

 for, flowers; that their everyday life must be 

 one of constant toil from early morning till 

 late at night. To such I would like to say, 

 as a brother once did, to 'save time' (it may 

 not always necessarily be as he advised me, 

 and was what was then really needed), go to 

 bed for an hour or two, but I believe much 

 time can often be 'saved' by allowing the 

 nerves to relax, if even but for a few minutes. 



"While to the busy housewife a few minutes 

 from her almost ceaseless round of duties often 

 seem utterly impossible, are there not often 

 times when work can be put aside to the saving 

 of time, while the soil is loosened about this 

 plant, a stake driven for that, a string fixed 

 for another, and with a clearer brain and 

 steadier nerves the work can be resumed, when 

 it will be found to run more smoothly for the 

 interference. 



"While the advantages to be gained by at- 

 tending to the cares of house plants are veiy 

 great those gained in the garden far excel. 

 To those (and how painfully great is the num- 

 ber) who like myself suffer from nervous affec- 

 tion, I would like to say after having tasted 

 of the exhilarating effects of outdoor work, 

 both among flowers and vegetables, 'Go and 

 do likewise.' Forget for a while (as much as 

 possible, at least) about being 'not strong.' 

 Revel in the pure air and sunshine, bend the 



energies toward the care of these little 'angels 

 of mercy,' be they ever so few or 'common,' 

 gauging the amount of work, of course, by 

 the strength at disposal, and if my experience 

 counts for anything, that amount will increase 

 as time goes on, and to no part will this asser- 

 tion apply more forcibly perhaps than to the 

 nerves. 



"Just recovering from an attack of pneu- 

 monia and congestion of lungs, am able to 

 testify to the benefits to be derived from out- 

 door employment. What if the indoor work 

 has had to be slighted some? I feel amply 

 repaid, not only from the fact that my flower 

 beds and a small amount of vegetable garden 

 promise large returns for the labor bestowed, 

 but strength has returned increasingly, and I 

 am better able to attend to household duties, 

 while the little seeds, 'hidden deep in the 

 earth away,' are growing into delicious vege- 

 tables for the table or into bright blossoms and 

 luxuriant foliage." 



A correspondent who asks to be known as 

 "Indiana"— I would much prefer to give her 

 real name— sends this pleasant, chatty letter: 



"I have been an appreciative reader of Home 

 AND Flowers ever since it was published four- 

 teen years ago, and when the magazine took 

 on a 'This, That, and the Other' column, also 

 printing letters from its friends, I was very 

 fearful lest we would not get enough space from 

 your practical pen, and yet how are you to go 

 on forever writing without knowing what it is 

 we wish to hear about or learn of? 



"I smile as I read A. Conjo's letter concern- 

 ing the fakes advertised by florists, for I see 

 that I am not the only victim. Haven't I 

 wrestled mth those same plants? The first 

 time I was victimized I was so enraged I wrote 

 to the florist and told him what a fake he was 

 advertising, innocently supposing he would not 

 advertise it again, when lo! and behold, the 

 next year he not only advertised it again, but 

 added a testimonial from some one (imaginary, 

 I suppose) as to its merits. Of course I with- 

 drew my patronage for one year at least, which 

 must have hurt him, as it amounted to at least 

 fifty cents, but the next year found me nursing 

 with great care two high-priced White Black- 

 berries from the same florist, but they would 

 not and did not reward me. What fools we 

 readers of catalogues be! 



"It is said that the American people like 

 to be humbugged, and I verily believe it; the 

 florists have found it out and come in for their 

 share. Still, shall we content ourselves with 



