HOME ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18465, 17 May 1928, Page 5

HOME ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION NOTES.

(Contributed.) A GARDEN HYMN. I never knew' Thee. Lord, until My garden brought us face to face, Revealed Thy gracious miracle Of sun and seed in little space. Since I have seen Thine alchemy Change earth-brown bulbs to living gold Of daffodils. Eternity Has seemed a simple truth to hold. The incense breath of mignonette Has summoned me to vespers, too, And may I nevermore forget To lift my heart, as pansies do! No dim cathedral is as still As twilight in this holy place; I never knew’ Thee. Lord, until My garden brought us face to face. —Molly A. Haley, in “ The Christian Century. ’ At a public meeting of the H.E.A. on the evening of Friday, May 4, Mr Erasmuson demonstrated to a capacity audience the beautiful effects that can be produced by the artistic arrangement of flowers that may be grown in Christchurch in every carefully tended garden. The flowers used throughout the evening were kindly provided by Miss Shaw. Mr Erasmuson said, “ I want to show you to-night what can be done with common flowers. By the expenditure of a few shillings in seeds of the right kind you may have a succession of flowers all through the year. The bouquet is not used in home decoration, so I shall just show a few varieties of decoration in vases and bow'ls. The colour scheme is the important thing and it is also very important to have the gift of making the most of what you've got. Small vases should have in them only one or two flowers and a little bit of foliage. Berries and leaves look best in a large bowl. Never overcrowd. This is a fatal mistake, the effect is lost, and three times as many flowers are used. At a recent country show at which I acted as judge, the whole effect of some' very beautiful flowers was spoilt by overcrowding. The main principle is, a few flowers and a certain amount of foliage. Keep your vases clean. Flowers will not live in dirty water. The best way to lengthen their period of keeping fresh is to dissolve a little alum in the. water in w’hich they are placed. Browns and golds go well together. In France to-day table decorations are low and when the arrangement is finished the whole scheme is covered over with tulle to tone with the flowers. Asparagus and maidenhair fern should not be used with chrysanthemums. In most gardens there are a few shrubs that colour up in winter, the foliage of these is the best to use with the flowers I have just mentioned. Do not fill up your house with a lot of little vases; instead of a dozen small have two or three large ones. A good many rooms nowadays lend themselves to a variety of colours. Be sure to keep your crystal vases brightiy clean and remember that maidenhair and asparagus ferns look especially pretty in little vases. Pink and gold roses look very charming with asparagus fern, as do gold and crimson chrysanthemums with autumn foliage. Do not have a tall vase in the hall a small, solid one gives a much better effect. About half an hour per day on your' flowers is time weil spent. To give flowers a grip and make them stand firm, put at the bottom of your vase one or two inches of clean sand, charcoal, or paper. Plants in the home require a little attention, but take care that this attention is of the right kind. A lady told me the other day that she gave her indoor plants doses of castor oil and cold tea. Don’t follow her example As your plant gets dry, leave the pot for aliout an hour in clear, cold water and clean the leaves with the same. If you once let your piant get thoroughly dry, no amount of water will revive it. Two or three times during the year give your indoor plants a good drink of liquid manure, or you can buy plant food in tabloid form. Jardinieres are not very satistory, the}- take such a lot of filling. If you have a jardiniere it is a good idea to put a vase it in arranged in such a way that the sides of the jardiniere quite conceal it. A plant or two of michaclmas daisy in the garden

comes in very handy as an accessory to almost any other flower. It is always a goi>d idea to strip the stems of flowers before placing them in water. I o keep flowers like dahlias and hydrangeas, place them in water coming right uj. to their necks and keep their heads resting on the water for some hours. Floating bowls that suit yotir colour scheme look very pretty with a few flowers floating on the top, and in the summer time these bowls give to a room a pleasant effect of coolness. In the tall, dark vases fashionable to-day, sprays of flowering plum, peach and nectarine look very lovely, but, as with all other flowers, you must be careful not to overcrowd them. Hydrangeas look best in something big and fat, with a narrow top; they look best without foliage. Smilax is a plant that is little grown, but it is one of the most useful for decorative purposes. Out of most gardens sufficient material can be obtained to compete at shows, and such competition adds very greatly to the interest and pleasure of a garden. Prizes at flower shows are won year after year by the same people, simply because so manv persons think themselves . not clever enough to compete. There are many people who, if they would only try, could do it very well.” At the request of one of his audience, Mr Erasmuson made a very charming wired \ ictorian posy of delicate pink and blue flowers, in concentric circles, 1 with a final circle of roses and autumn leavesIn reply to questions, the lecturer said that heliotrope was best arranged without any foliage in a little squat vase, and primroses should be treated -in the same way. The best plants to cultivate for winter flowers were daisies, marigolds, mignonette, sweet peas, antirrhinums, linarias, heather, gaillardias, winter-flowering carnations, storks, daphne and baronia. Sweet peas planted in February should begin to flower about the beginning of June. At the conclusion of his demonstration Mr Erasmuson was accorded a very hearty vote of thanks. Gn the same evening a meeting of

the General Committee of the H.E.A. was held, and it was decided to gratefully accept Mrs T. E. Taylor's kind offer to represent the association at the Pan-Pacific Women’s Conference, to be opened in Honolulu next August. It was also decided that the association should have two lorries in the procession on the da}'- of the Canterbury Jubilee celebrations. The next public meeting of the H.E.A. will be held to-morrow (May 18) evening, when cookery experts will give demonstrations on the best meth,o£s of using baking powder, gelatine and condensed milk- “ Sweet Pea” sends a contribution so suitable to a “flower” column that we select it as the only one for which space can be spared this week. PATHS TO THE FOUNTAIN OF CHEERFULNESS. Deep in the Valley of Simple Wishes lies the fountain, and the paths that lead to it are many. The plainest path, and the one that is most travelled, is called Friendliness. Those who take this way think well of their companions and are ready to please and to be pleased. The rule of the road is that everyone shall turn the bright side in passing and no racing is allowed. Another path is called Joyful Work. Here everyone is glad to have something to do and wants to do it as well as possible. Another path is called Willing Sacrifice. This path leads through places that are dark and rough.- You can see that the people who travel this road have not had an easy time. But they have not forgotten how to smile, and often they can sing even more sweetly than other folks. So, by these and many other paths, the fountain is reached. There are wild flowers growing all around-—self-heal, heart’s ease, and speedwell, and traveller’s joy and loose strife, and life everlasting. —Henry Van Dyke, in “Harper's Bazaar.”