ANNUAL MEETING AT NEVADA. 277 



FLORICULTURE. 



ESSAY READ BY MRS. GEO. E. DUGAN, " MAY MYRTLE," OF SEDALIA. 



"And the spring rose in the garden fair, 



Like the spirit of love, felt everywhere; 



And each flower and herb on earth's dark breast, 

 Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest." 



It has been truly said, "that a gift of flowers is always a most charm- 

 ing and acceptable one. A queen may give them to her subjects, and 

 the poorest subject may offer them to a monarch." They are pledges 

 of friendship, of love and of good will. The coy maiden may give a fra- 

 grant boquet to the object of her adoration and the sweet blossoms will 

 whisper the tenderness her heart feels but modesty forbids her to utter. 

 The sighing swain who is too bashful to speak his sentiments to the one 

 so dearly beloved, may give her a rose, and the delicate messenger will 

 tell the sweet story in the most beautiful and poetical of all the lan- 

 guages. 



Who wonders that the dainty forget-me-not is such a favorite, when 

 it says so prettily to the one receiving it, " I come to you with a mes- 

 sage of true love." 



The myrtle too, mingles love with sadness, and is a fit emblem to 

 wreath the white shafts, where our beloved dead lie at rest. 



The language of flowers is a most interesting one. Very few of the 

 young people ever neglect to master it. Handkerchief and fan flirta- 

 tions, are rude and unrefined, but the heart's tenderest emotions may be 

 spoken in celestial language of flora, as delicately as the fragrance ex- 

 hales from the petals of a rose. These gentle missionaries from paradise 

 have a wonderful hold on human sympathy, for they seem to speak to the 

 soul, and to speak of a brighter and happier land beyond this "vale of 

 tears." 



I have sometimes endeavored to imagine what this world would re- 

 semble, if all the bright and beautiful blossoms had been omitted from 



