Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-04-24
NUMBER Il.

ant and practicable one The large SIZE
and strong odor of the sunflower render it
one OF the best for such a salutary intu.
ence. 1t is an easy and delightful task 10
surround our dwellings with flowers
They contribute wonderfully to the max
ing of home loveable and happy. They
invariably interest and charm the chill
dren, and inspire them with a love of the
pure, the beautiful and the good. 4 true
lover of flowers is never bad person.
" Your voiceess lips, o, Flowers living preach
Each cup pulpit. every leaf a book"
These considerations alone should
prompt every one to grow flowers, but
when we consider that they may, and
doubtless generally do, contribute in an
important degree to the healthfulness of
our dwellings, even the most sortlid should
find an inducement to their cultivation.
Another popular belief not as well
founded, is that plants in dwellings are
injurious 10 health, especially in sleeping
rooms. We frequently find statements in
the newspapers cautioning people iii re
gard To the danger of having plants in
sleeping apartments Some physicians
have encouraged this bugbear by telling
people that at night plants give out car
bonic acid which is poisonous to animal
life, and that, if we sleep in rooms where
plants are kept, we are liable to inhale
this Gas and get sick This seems like
| very plausible plant-chemistry but is un
doubtedly fallacious. There is no reason
for believing that carbonic acid is poison
| Gus. 1t will not support animal life-that
is, a person would drown in it, or in water,
for want of the necessary oxygen, but
that does not prove that either is poison
Gus Sleeping-rooms should be well veutj
lated; that is, abundantly supplied with
oxygen People drink carbonic acid gas
| in soda-water, beer, etc, without injury
| from il, and often with benefit.
Plants NAV give out carbonic acid gas
| to some extent, but certainly not in sulli-
cicnt quantity to affect health, as is shown
| by facts of the strongest kind. No health
ier class of men can be found than green
house operators. 1t would be impossible
| to make them believe that plants are in
| any way injurious to their health In fact,
| they entertain quite the contrary opinion.
| They spend much of their time in the
greenhouse, and, during the winter cs
| peciallv, the night time. 1t is then, when
| the fires need looking to, that the green
house is their sitting-room, and very fire.
| quentlv their Sleepingroom. The floor Is
| just the place to inhalc the gas, asit is
| heavier than air. yet men have slept for
nights in succession on the floor of the
othouse, filled with Il rank growth of
| plants, without ever experiencing deliteri-
| Gus effects from it.
Active or latent in every one is the pas
sion for flowers and, il IT Is starved and
| benlmbed through inattcntion or want Of
cultivation a world of the purest happi-
ness is lost Children should be reared in
the companiorship of flowers. Those who
care to have flowers and plants about
them, and have been frightened from this
| happiness by the chimercal lore alluded
to, may well consider the pertinent facts
we have presented and dismiss their fears.
st LoulS Gl0tc