Who am I that I should have this army? An old man 
laid aside from professional work, broken in health. Yet I 
secured a somber piece of weedy ground and planted those 
unsightly bulbs gathered from various portions of Europe 
and America, and so secured this harvest of delight. Wlivj 
should I be so highhj honored and treated like a God? 
Thousands of the most gorgeous flowers are putting them¬ 
selves on dress parade. They vie with each other to see 
which can make the most alluring and winsome appearance. 
Such a trousseau no bride ever wore. 
Whence came all these tints of woven splendor which 
go into this rich carpet spread out before me? You have 
read of that Oriental Carpet of Gems, the wonder of the 
world, where rubies, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds, yea, 
all the unfading flowers of earth’s under garden, are min¬ 
gled in a fabric which shimmers, flashes and blazes in the 
sunshine. But that gem of gems cost millions. It is made 
of dead flowers which cannot breathe and which give out 
no fragrance. Mvj garden of gems is alive. Its beauty 
does not last as long, but it is mine, and while it lasts I am 
a millionaire. All of these acres are mvj bouquet. 
Whence did they derive these rich perfumes? The 
mingling of the rose and the violet, the pond lilvj and the 
heliotrope, the hinting of cinnamon and the spices. Up 
from the masses there rise viewless clouds of incense which 
float above and wander away in the distant air, then sweep 
earthward so that you wade in billows of aroma. 
Mvj garden teaches this lesson. How much the Great 
Florist would do for ITis children if tlievj would onlvj give 
Him a chance. This was His opportunity and He took it. 
His oldest daughter, good mother nature, was on hand to 
work with me and evolve the plans of God. How much 
she would do for us if we would only help. What j^ossi- 
bilities all around us. Above us Divine ideals waiting for 
a chance to alight and glorifvj the earth. 
Come around to these rows. These plants are mine. I 
grew them from seed. See this lovelvj one with soft vel¬ 
vety petals of pink; see that one of purest white; look at 
that one robed in dazzling red with heart of gold. How 
happy and cheerful they look. They are mine. Mvj evjes 
first saw them. * * * And back in the unknown are 
other masses of undiscovered loveliness waiting your beck 
and mine. Sometimes it seems as if thevj would break open 
the gates and flood vis with a glory vjet unseen. 
^Vho would live in desolation when he might live in 
fairyland, where Nature and all her unseen forces will work 
davj and night to lavish on him her choicest treasures? 
Plant in masses. Match Gods great out-of-doors with 
abundance. Don’t be stingy when a little will bring so 
much. Open all the gates and let the waiting beauty of 
an earthly elvjsium settle around you. 
If you have onlvj a small citvj lot, beautify that and give 
a kind Providence a chance to smile on you through the 
countenances of your flowers. 
Whence came all this rich coloring—as if the tints had 
been taken from the sunsets and the mantles from the stars, 
all woven bvj deft and unseen fingers into these forms of 
entrancing loveliness? 
Among the crimsons what splendid flowers. There is 
statelvj Prince Inyjerlal, further on is La Sublime and Louis 
Van Houtte and the showy Ville de Nancy. 
Among the pinks the beautiful L’Esperance, the radiant 
Madame Geissler, Livingstone and a host of others. 
There is Jeanne d’Arc with jDotals of gold and a center 
of snowy white, emblem of the fair soul of the war maiden, 
and in the heart of the flower, droj^s of blood as if the iron 
had entered her soul; and here is her daughter Golden 
Harvest; statelvj Festiva Maxima rises like a cjvieen in her 
snowy whiteness; Monsieur Diy^ont is a sturdy massive 
white with carmine sprinkled in the center; Couronne d’Or 
with heart of gold is one of the latest. 
Among the somewhat variegated you find Faust, one of 
the most floriferous, overwhelmed with floods of bloom each 
vjear. But we cannot go into details when we have two 
hundred varieties all striving for recognition. 
Reverently I stand in this imperial presence. Instinctively 
I savj, “How jjrecious are Thy thoughts unto me, O God; 
how great is the sum of them.” All these radiant forms are 
the revelation of the love of the Father, interpreters of His 
thoughts, projdvets of our own resplendent future. 
“O, here I see! Close to me nods. 
Page Seien 
Then again from the same author: 
Get Peonies, the most gorgeovis flowers on earth; plant 
in masses, and have a splendid carpet of loveliness fit for 
the touch of angels’ feet. Don’t be stingy with the front 
vjard. A fine house in a neglected vjard is like a one 
thousand dollar picture in a ten cent frame. Plant abund¬ 
ance and do not depend on two or three flowers to glorifvj a 
whole lawn. Beauty is wealth; raise a crop of it and be 
rich. Let vis get a combination and fix ujj the home so it 
will be a blessed memory in after vjears. The home is not 
a kennel, a stable, a stvj, or a barn. It is a dwelling place 
for immortals, who stand on the borders of the eternal 
beauty, where the stars are jalanted in the vast flower 
gardens of the Father. 
If you have beautiful grounds, adorn them with an abund¬ 
ance of flowers. You will have your children associated 
with the most charming companions, and thevj will have 
their influence. Yovir boys will not be boors, but gentle¬ 
men; your girls will have lives moulded bvj the pure and 
the beautiful. 
What a soul hunger often comes to the wife and mother! 
Too often the front vjard is neglected. Perhajss it is a hog 
pasture, or a hosjJital for disabled machinery. The farmer’s 
wife needs an attractive home. She should have her 
toilet room as well as her citvj sister. Wben you have 1 60 
acres can you not spare her 
one, and enjoy it yourself 
with her, so that from 
earlvj sj)ring till the hard 
frosts of autumn you can 
be welcomed bvj a pro¬ 
cession of beauty? 
The farmer is king bvj 
divine right. His domain 
reaches from the center of 
the earth vip to the stars. 
He gets his title from man 
and from the Creator. 
Taking such a gift, he is 
under the highest obliga¬ 
tion to make the most of 
it, and not to rob it, but to 
keej) it at its best. 
The Farm Beautiful 
should be a charming jjic- 
ture in Nature’s great frame 
work all around it. 
CA single flowering stem of Elwood Pleas.) 
