346 MISSOUKI STATE HORTICULTEAL SOCIETY. 



OUR FLOWERING SHRUBS AIS^D PLAXTS. 



[An essay by Miss Mary Holsinger, read before the June meet- 

 ing of the Missouri Yalley Horticultural Society.] 



"Flowers," says Bishop Coxe, "are words which even a babe can 

 understand." Truly, by their beauty, they convey a meaning as appar- 

 ent as though expressed by our language of speech. But, as many of 

 our simplest words, with a well known English significance, when 

 traced back to the root in another language, are found to have their 

 origin in a queer custom of ancient times, or an act of some good, great 

 man, thus giving to the ordinary definition a deeper shade of meaning, 

 so the prosaic little plant frequently has a history, which, if known, 

 would redeem it forever from the crowded ranks of objects which we 

 designate unattractive. 



The story of its migration from a far different clime, its reception 

 in a foreign land, the changes it has undergone under the ever-watch- 

 ful care of the gardeners, these topics are surely worth a moment's 

 notice. 



If we knew how much of beauty and worth is oftimes stowed away 

 under a plain exterior ; if we realized that familiar objects, upon in- 

 quiry, reveal so much that is strange and wonderful ; if we guessed 

 what struggles, what cherished hopes and ambitions give color to the 

 inner life of a quiet friend, we would more earnestly strive to become 

 acquainted with the common place things and people about us. 



If we knew what tender romances are folded in the bright, young- 

 leaves of our flowering plants, and how much influence, always for 

 good, they have exerted over the lives of other people and nations, 

 the happy offsprings of mother earth, would be nourished even- more 

 tenderly. 



The first of the many blossoms that gladden our eyes with the 

 ■earliest touches of spring green, is the snowdrop, whose single, fra- 

 grant flower on a nodding pedicil is sometimes seen as early as Febru- 

 ary. It receives its name, not from its resemblance to a drop of snow, 

 but to the ear drops worn by the ladies of the sixteenth century. The 



