MRS. THEODORE THOMAS, who is a practical believer in the satisfaction of raising simple flowers, says in The World To-day:— “The pleasures of gardening are twofold. First comes the pleasure of making green things grow and blossom, and afterward the artistic delight of using their form and color to decorate the landscape. For neither of these pleasures is it necessary to own a large and picturesque estate. I have seen splendid flowers raised in the window of some poor old woman, with no better place to grow in than an old tomato can, and by tasteful planting the ordinary city backyard can be transformed from a dumping-ground of household refuse into a delight to the eye. Nor is it needful to have professional assistance of much horticultural knowledge to achieve the best results. When I started my garden, I knew nothing at all about the culture of flowers, but I learned by experience in a few years how to grow the simple kinds of plants. There are so many of these, and they are so beautiful, that it is not necessary for amateurs to attempt to raise those which require hotbeds, winter storage, grafting, transplanting, pinching, pruning, and all the other special processes which professional florists practise. By a little thought in the matter of grouping, one can make almost any ordinary flower effective in the garden. The common foxglove, for instance, which usually blossoms in a very ugly shade of magenta, and is inharmonious in a bed of mixed colors, is very decorative planted in masses together with the white variety among a quantity of green shrubbery, and with all the scarlets, blues, and yellows at a respectable distance. It is wonderful what can be done in this way with the simplest plants, and it adds immeasurably to the pleasure of flower growing to take some common, despised flower or weed and see what one can do with it by setting it in the best surroundings.”—Selected.