come to a very complete horticultural knowledge notwithstand- 
ing, his efforts must be greater while his results will never be as 
convincing.” 
APRIL 15.— THE MEANING OF A FLOWER, by Samuel Christian 
Schmucker, Professor of Biological Sciences, State Normal 
School, West Chester, Pa. 
“We who enjoy the exquisite beaut)' of the flower, are very 
apt to believe all this beauty is made for us. But the structure 
of a flower has so clear and so definite a purpose and accom- 
plishes so good a result when it works out this purpose, that we 
can have little doubt as to the meaning of a flower. All the 
beautiful adornment of the flower is meant to attract the insects, 
who, coming for the nectar, carry pollen from flower to flower thus 
insuring seeds. The remarkable part of the process however, 
is that by carrying pollen from one plant to another they carry 
into the new seed the qualities of the father plant, while the 
plant to which the pollen is carried gives to the seed the qualities 
of a mother plant. Thus Nature is forever giving to all her 
higher children two parents instead of one. The purpose of this 
is to secure an ever new assortment of the qualities of two 
individuals, trusting that amongst the combinations that arise, 
some will be so much better than others as to produce new 
strains from which Nature can work to higher levels. Much of 
the improvement in the animal and plant world has come from 
this mingling of strains and the selection of the best.” 
APRIL 22. — FLOWER ARRANGEMENT, by Mr. B. F. Letson, 
Boston, Mass. 
” I begin my lecture with the care of flowers from the time of 
cutting or receiving until they are used. I shall demonstrate the 
right and wrong methods of cutting flowers, and the use of 
receptacles for the best results. I also give a treatise on first 
aid to wilted or chilled flowers. Illustrations will be given of 
combinations of flowers with regard to color, form, and the right 
relation of one flower to another. I shall bring flowers and 
receptacles to demonstrate the talk.” 
APRIL 29. — COMMON GARDEN FLOWERS: HOW THEY MAY BE 
IMPROVED. Dr. Orland E. White, Curator of Plant Breed- 
ing, Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 
” There is a friend of mine who comes to see me almost every 
week. One of the subjects we invariably discuss is the beauty 
