FLOWERS AND POETRY. 
In our basket we find the following verses clipped from a newspaper, but the name we cannot 
give, because we forgot to mark it upon the slip. The name of the poet is not stated, but it may 
be Longfellow, or perhaps Bryant. It has a little of the sweetness so peculiar to Ten¬ 
nyson, but not much. We presume it will float round the country anonymous for a time, and 
the author may never be discovered — or perhaps, in a little while, there maybe two or three 
claimants, as there have been lately for other choice popular poems. It is headed “ Verses sung 
at a Granger party during the winter , and inscribed to JAMES VlCK, the national Seedsman and 
Florist. For the benefit of the press we will state that the poem is not copy-righted. 
{Tunc, Auld Lang Sync.) 
Should summer pleasures be forgot, 
'T would make the fond heart sick. 
But winter boasts a lovely spot 
With house plants bought of Vick. 
Soon spring will cheer the weary heart, 
With flowers full rich and thick, 
Which nature’s beauty wili impart 
To show our debt to Vick. 
Vick’s catalogues give splendid prints 
Of useful plants and flowers : 
Vick never cash nor effort stints, 
’T enrich our rural hours. 
Hope tells us of the bouquets fair 
We shall next summer pick ; 
For seeds we’ll trust his patient care. 
And send our wants to Vick. 
Send postal orders or send cash. 
But never ask for tick ; 
To trust o’er half the world were rash — 
'T would ruin honest Vick. 
’Tis he who plies the seedsman's trade. 
Without a fraud or trick ; 
Our money oft for naught we’ve paid, 
But never so to Vick. 
Then let us join his fame to sing, 
In chorus loud and quick ; 
We'll joyful look for coming spring, 
And send for seeds to Vick. 
FLOWERS IN THE FAMILY. 
The following letter from a lady in Abingdon, Ill., is interesting to us, not because of any 
complimentary remarks which it contains, for we claim no right to these, and they show more 
strongly the kindness of heart of the good lady than any merit of ours. It exhibits such an 
appreciation of the value of flowers in the family that we thought its perusal would find a respons¬ 
ive chord in many hearts, and perhaps tend to awaken a new interest on this subject in others. 
James Vick :— Among the many grateful letters which you receive you would not have missed mine, yet I feel 
no less impelled to write and thank you — or at least try to — for the basketful of beautiful plants you sent me this 
spring. Things of beauty and joys forever, they have been a perpetual fountain of pleasure through the spring 
and summer months, and I shall fight hard with Jack Frost for their possession through the winter. Not a single 
one of the number you sent but what grew, and all have blossomed save one, the Agcratum, and that has budded. 
I realize that my whole family have been benefited by our flowers, from myself down to Baby. The children love 
them, and many a childish grief is lost and many a bruise healed by the possession of a pretty flower. Yes, 1 do 
sometimes pull the flowers ana give them to the children, as rewards for being good, and as comforters in trouble. 
Isn’t it right that the beautiful things God makes should be ministers of grace and mercy to the little ones’—Mas 
W. H. H. 
Blotched Phlox Drummondi.— A lady of Charles City, Iowa, sends us the following: 
Mr. Vick : — I have two Phloxes which attract considerable attention among my friends, and send you speci¬ 
mens. The buff may be the one you describe as “dull yellow,” but the blotched one is odd enough. My Pansies 
are exquisite, so large and such beautiful shades. I have thirty-six varieties from one paper of seed, and my 
Balsams are said to be the finest ever seen in town — all from your seed. — Mrs. H. F. M. 
The buff Phlox is Isabellma. The marbled one is a beauty, red and white. We have had 
it several years, and have tried to make it constant, but it sports so badly that we have not felt 
justified in selling it as marbled. Some years nearly all have come marbled, and the next sea¬ 
son almost all of one color. We have, therefore, only sold it with seed of mixed colors. 
Rachel Beans. — With an interesting note we received, June ioth, the finest sample of 
Rachel Beans from Geo. D. Hodge, of Tennessee, that ever came under our notice. They were 
six inches in length, large and tender. They were the product of the second planting, the first 
grown from seed we forwarded having been destroyed by frost. 
Green Balsams.—A lady of Canton, Ill., sends us a green Balsam. This is occasionally 
seen when the flowers are unusually double. 
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