3 1 8 
Old Time Gardens 
yet how quickly, in the hothouse Violets, can the 
scent become nauseous. I recall one formal lunch- 
eon whereat the many tables were mightily massed 
with violets ; and though all looked as fresh as day- 
break to the sight, some must have been gathered 
for a day or more, and the stale odor throughout 
the room was unbearable. But it is scarcely fair to 
decry a flower because of its scent in decay. Shake- 
speare wrote : — 
<c Lilies festered smell far worse than weeds.” 
Many of our Compositae are vile after standing in 
water in vases ; Ox-eye Daisies, Rudbeckia, Zinnia, 
Sunflower, and even the wholesome Marigold. 
Delicate as is the scent of the Pansy, the smell of 
a bed of ancient Pansy plants is bad beyond words. 
The scent of the flowers of fruit-bearing trees is 
usually delightful ; but I cannot like the scent of 
Pear blossoms. 
I dislike much the rank smell of common yellow 
Daffodils and of many of that family. I can scarcely 
tolerate them even when freshly picked, upon a din- 
ner table. Some of the Jonquils are as sickening 
within doors as the Tuberose, though in both cases 
it is only because the scent is confined that it is cloy- 
ing. In the open air, at a slight distance, they smell 
as well as many Lilies, and the Poet’s Narcissus is 
deemed by many delightful. 
I have ever found the scent of Lilacs somewhat 
imperfect, not well rounded, not wholly satisfying; 
but one of my friends can never find in a bunch of 
our spring Lilacs any odor save that of illuminating 
