FLORAL DEPARTMENT. 47 



air laden with the mingled odors of varied tree and shrub 

 and vine new and sweet from the birth of spring. What 

 an ethereal buoyancy is inspired by the blooming orchards 

 and fields of clover ! What new sentiments of domestic 

 bliss are awakened when welcomed home by the perfume of 

 sweet-scented flowers ! How greatly enhanced the pleasure 

 of a journey when the air is redolent from the gardens and 

 fields and forests ! When we stand amidst the glories of 

 the florist's conservatories and gardens, we marvel not that 

 God prepared so beautiful an abode for the home of inno- 

 cence. 



But flowers are not simply ornamental: their utility is 

 equally apparent. It is doubtful if even the researches of 

 the botanist have yet discovered a tithe of the useful pur- 

 poses they serve. As indications of the nature, quantity, 

 and perfection of the coming fruit, as a medium through 

 which varieties of fruit are multiplied and perfected, as in- 

 dices to noxious and harmless plants, as antidotes to noxious 

 vapors and disagreeable odors, they are priceless. 



Their contributions to the healing art are many, increasing 

 and invaluable. They are the repositories of the honey that 

 fills our hives, and from them the busy bee manufactures 

 the delicate wax which contributes so largely to the produc- 

 tion of articles of ornament and utility. From them are 

 extracted largely the perfumes of commerce. They furnish 

 models for the artist and the milliner. 



And then what a teacher is the floral kingdom ! Jesus, 

 the divine teacher, himself the Rose of Sharon, made the 

 lily-of-the-valley immortal, as the type of humility, depend- 

 ence, and moral loveliness. A conservatory is a picture of 

 human life. It teaches of birth, growth, maturity, old age, 

 decay, and death, — ay, of the great resurrection, and our 

 dependence upon the great Florist above for the varieties 

 of mental endowment. 



In it we find a type of all the personal, social, and moral 

 virtues, and of the varied stjdes of mental and moral beauty 

 with which man is endowed. Indeed, we may esteem the 

 race as a flower-garden, and give them corresponding names. 

 We find among mankind the modest violet, the gay pansy, 

 the blushing rose, the pretentious hollyhock, the ambitious 

 magnolia, the conceited coxcomb, the sturdy oak, the cling- 



