212 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
CHILDREN AND FLOWERS- 
Tlie love of flowers is to be cultivated, not 
extirpated, as is so often attempted by ignorant 
or heedless parents. It is not a proof of deprav¬ 
ity that your child loves to ramble in the mead¬ 
ows and woods after lilies and wild roses, more 
than to hoe potatoes and corn. He does not de¬ 
serve a thrashing, because he lingers by the 
roadside to pluck violets and dandelions, when 
he is sent to turn away the cows. He can not 
help admiring the dew-drops that hang like 
jewels on the flowering grass, and the morning- 
songs of the birds. His soul is full of boyish 
rapture, and he is unconscious of the passing 
moments. He does not deserve ridicule, or a 
scolding, when he asks for a patch of ground 
where he may plant rose bushes and flowering- 
shrubs, pinks and asters. It may be that the 
potato blossom, or rather bulb, has more charms 
for you than all wild flowers, or exotics in the 
garden. The children have not learned to meas¬ 
ure by your standard. They will find pleasure 
in things that are good for nothing but to look 
at, and smell of. They are taken captive by 
tire delicate coloring of the petals, and the aroma 
of the opening flowers; and who shall say that 
they are not as rational in their admiration as 
the man who measures value by the market price 
in gold ? For what has God given us these in¬ 
stincts, if they are not to be gratified and de¬ 
veloped, and have their appropriate place and 
oxercise in forming the symmetrical character ? 
It is a good plan to give children portions of 
ground near the house to plant with flowers and 
flowering shrubs. It does not necessarily in¬ 
volve much expense or patronage of the nur¬ 
seryman. With a little encouragement they 
will supply themselves from the meadows and 
woods in their own neighborhood. Let them 
transplant violets and butter cups, blood root 
and lilies, golden rod and cardinal flower, win¬ 
ter green and prince’s pine. There are hun¬ 
dreds of pretty wild flowers that will flourish in 
the garden under their care, and make home at¬ 
tractive. What can be finer than the azaleas, 
the high and low laurel, and the rhododendron ? 
They will bring to light many gems of the 
field and forest unknown to you, “flowers 
that waste their sweetness upon the desert air.” 
This love of the beautiful is to be educated, 
and if we will but give nature in them a fair 
chance, the education will not be half so expen¬ 
sive as that of the schools. Let them have oc¬ 
casional holidays, the boys and the girls togeth¬ 
er, in which they may go after flowers and ber¬ 
ries in the woods and meadows, and by the 
mountain streams, and enjoy nature to the full. 
Picnics are in season now, and we have some¬ 
times thought that they did old folks quite as 
much good as young ones. The perfection of 
a lesson in esthetics, is a dozen families or more, 
parents and children together, encamped in a 
wood on a Summer’s day. It costs comparatively 
little in the way of preparation, but pays 
I abundantly—the children can tell you in what. 
Bouquets Gratis. 
Every person who 
owns a good flower 
garden, is annually be¬ 
set by visitors asking 
for bouquets. In some 
cases the flowers will 
be appreciated, but in 
many others, not. 
Many want them to 
pull to pieces, or to 
carry up and down the 
street, and finally to 
throw away. To such 
persQns, it is hardly 
worth while to give 
choice flowers, if in¬ 
deed any: it is money 
and labor, and rare 
beauty and fragrance 
thrown away. Many 
of these “beggars” 
have land enough at 
home, but are too lazy, 
or have too little real 
love for flowers to 
make gardens for 
themselves. They like 
very well to come and 
avail themselves of the 
fruit of your time and 
industry. Now, for 
these, and all other 
persons who do not ap¬ 
preciate the real worth 
of flowers, we would 
say, give them nothing, 
or else have at hand a 
lot of cheap, showy 
plants from which one 
can cut to tlieir satisfac¬ 
tion. The marigolds, 
the annual larkspurs, 
monkshood, Drum¬ 
mond’s phlox, candytuft, scabious, etc., will fur¬ 
nish a good assortment. Give them these, and 
it may awaken a love for something better. 
But to others who heartily love flowers, and 
who will appreciate and preserve the bouquet 
given, as long as it can be kept, we would say, 
give choicer kinds. The finest roses, carnations, 
verbenas, geraniums, heliotropes, and others 
of sweet perfume and delicate beauty, should be 
freely bestowed. They will confer great pleas¬ 
ure, and will strengthen the ties of friendship. 
Summer Fruits. 
The season of fruit is one which gives em¬ 
ployment to all who take any interest in their 
cultivation, in investigating new varieties, and 
extending one’s acquaintance among those 
prized or cultivated by his neighbors. Every 
spare hour may thus be profitably spent. The 
strawberries are already past, and the lessons 
of the season have been well learned, we hope. 
Certainly, the value of the fruit to the public 
was never before so well demonstrated. The 
first week in July finds cherries in their prime 
over most of the country; and when any one 
who has been in the habit of esteeming the 
black and red mazzards, which are to be found 
almost universally over the country, as delicious, 
first enjoys a taste of the Black Tartarian, 
Black Eagle, or several of the Bigarreaus, it is al¬ 
most as though an entirely new fruit had been 
