Lines written for the Catalogue of the Royal Horticultural So- 
ciety's Sale held at the Society's Hall, in Vincent Square, on June 27, 
28, and 29, for the benefit of the Red Cross. 
Think not that Earth unheeding lies 
Tranced by the summer' 's golden air, 
Indifferent, under azure skies, 
What blows of War her children bear. 
She that has felt our tears like rain, 
And shared our wounds of body and soul, 
Gives of her flowers to ease our pain, 
Gives of her heart to make us whole. 
— 0. S. 
Attractive Weeds 
Last summer I was so impressed with the so-called weeds that 
sprang up in my garden from nowhere, and made such lovely masses 
of color or unusual effects with the garden flowers, that I made the 
following notes. It is needless to say that they flourished like the 
biblical tree, while the choicer cousins gently died or grew spindly, 
according to the value you had placed upon their effect in the general 
garden scheme. The same perverseness that haunts us in every day 
life hovers over the garden, and for no possible explanation a desired 
plant will curl up and depart, while next door the divided clump will 
grow, bloom, and prosper with an airy indifference to your half that is 
surely disappearing. But these kindly weeds will respond wonder- 
fully to the rich — for them — garden soil, and still more kindly, 
reappear year after year, if allowed to, somewhere in the garden. 
The first on my list is Venus's Looking Glass, belonging to the Bell 
flower family, and is in color a violet purple — see Dr. Ridgway's 
chart. It raised spire-like stalks with tiny flowers from a mass of 
Dusty Miller that was tumbling over the stones that edged the bed. 
In spite of the small flowers it gave a distinct note of color especially 
effective with the grey, and I found it most attractive to arrange in a 
natural-color wicker basket placed in the window ledge. The flowers 
remained fresh for nearly a week. It bloomed away all summer, and 
I found I could keep it from looking shabby until September by 
cutting back the stalks in July or after the last flowers on the stalk 
had bloomed. 
Eupatorium, Joe Pye Weed, came up close to the Rudbeckia 
purpurea, purple cone flower, and was the darker tone of that plant. 
It grew tall, rather stately, had no enemies and did not look so dingy 
