56 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



The next paper presented was by Mrs. Mary D. Arnold, of Gales- 

 ville, on 



FLOWERS. 



God's good will to His creatures is shown in nothing more evi- 

 dently, than in the mute language of the endless profusion of 

 bloom, ever renewing and filling every corner of the earth. As 

 we look into and study these tokens, the sight and the thoughts 

 expand; we see beauties that we passed unconscious of before, and 

 we become witnesses of better things, and have invitations to bet- 

 ter thoughts than the coarser dross of earth engenders. 



The early spring flowers bring with them both sorrowful and 

 sweet remembrances. • They are fraught with the recollections of a 

 sunny childhood, and a joyous youth, past and gone. Time leaves 

 no imprint upon their fair bloom, but it writes its hours with an 

 enduring chisel upon our brows. But we will not brood gloomily 

 over the inevitable. We will welcome with gladness the little 

 snowdrop, with its single and double flowers, ere the snow has 

 melted from our northern hillsides. The eranthis hyemalis, with 

 its yellow blossoms scarcely behind the snowdrop in time; Siberian 

 squill, with its deep blue flower; the purple and white crocuses, 

 and the various shades of yellow, open their cups to the clear blue 

 sky. The different varieties of the English cowslip, the iris, sweet 

 violet, pansy, and the earlier varieties of the narcissus, along with 

 our old time friend, the daffodil, all of these, and many of our wild 

 flowers, we enjoy before we fairly realize that winter has left us. 

 Ere many days, our first trees are in bloom, and the air is fragrant 

 with perfume. Never did the apple tree blossom more gloriously 

 than this season. Clad in their clusters of pink and white blos- 

 soms, they were beautiful. The language of the apple blossom is 

 Preference, and surely every lover of flowers must have a prefer- 

 ence for this daintv blossom. There is indeed a daintiness about 

 these pretty flowers. We view them with a double pleasure, think- 

 ing of the rich autumn harvest they promise. The frost king vis- 

 ited us when we did not wish to see him. We have had the de- 

 lightful bloom, but will not have the delicious fruit. 



Lilacs, Tartarian honeysuckles, tree peonies, flowering almond, 

 snowball, rose acacia, massive beds of tulips, and lovely lilies, are 



