374 STxYTE BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



avoid violent transitions or strilcing contrasts in form. It is the lieigiit of incon- 

 gruity of form to place a coarse leaved, straggling plant, like the coarser gera- 

 niums, "with the delicate foliage of another like the finer acacias. It requires 

 a long experience to detect the breaches of good taste in floral displays, and it 

 is true that those who have the best theoretical knowledge are not always the 

 least deficient in details. 



The cultivation of flowers is adapted to rich and poor, to the educated and 

 the illiterate, and there is a refinement growing out of this close relationship 

 that is felt outside the i^oetical measures ; a reality of culture not to be lost by 

 jostling against the hard rough world. There is a moral and religious atmos- 

 phere about flowers that has been appreciated ever since the adornment of Eden. 

 The pagans understand this, and dedicate their richest floral offerings to the 

 Gods. Christians comprehend it, and deck their pulpits with the most appro- 

 priate of Flora's treasures. 



Painting and sculpture have their appropriate place and influence, but their 

 potency lacks the universality of Flora's gifts. We love flowers, we pet them, 

 they grovv^ into our hearts and develop in us a higher love for purity and good- 

 ness ; they bring to us precious memories of the past, suggesting bright promises 

 and fond hopes, kind words and pure hearts. We find in their growth and 

 development, evidences of Grod's being, strong enough to convert the worst of 

 infidels. Does it not behoove us as lovers of morality and believers in Christianity 

 to cherish and develop this love of floral treasures when v,'e know the world is so 

 largely indebted to it for the refinement that characterizes our most advanced 

 civilization. Our Saviour appreciated the influence of floral studies and the 

 power of natural perfection and beauty of the floral kingdom over men, and 

 with what emotional pathos he must have pronounced that memorable expres- 

 sion, "Consider the lilies of the field how they grow ; they toil not, neither do 

 they spin, and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 

 like op.e of these." Christ loved flowers; let us love and cherish them, and 

 employ them in our homes, in our churches, in our public places, in our hearts 

 for the encouragement of pure thoughts and desires, and for a development of 

 that hidier emotion which leads us to look from nature up to nature's God. 



