130 THE FLORIST. 



ON FLORAL TASTES AND THEIR RESULTS. 



NO. III. 



The connexion between the exercise of industry and skill, and a 

 certain measure of success, may be considered as a law which, 

 although not without exceptions, is sufficiently regular to become 

 a stimulus to exertion. It is to the operation of this law that flori- 

 culture owes its existence as an art and a science, and no pursuit 

 more exphcitly exhibits and confirms the great principle that God 

 will reward human labour when rationally bestowed. This, then, is 

 a result of the culture of flowers, that it displays the extent to which 

 our Maker allows us to be fellow- workers with Him, and thus stamps 

 a high value on industrious thoughtfulness. 



It will be at once confessed that the productions of the Florist 

 are, in the highest sense, utterly beyond human skill ; so much so, 

 that all the QiMnbined energies of mankind could not call into exist- 

 tence, as a living organised structure, the most simple flower of the 

 field. On the other hand, it is equally evident that many of the 

 loveliest ornaments of the garden and the conservatory would have 

 had no existence without human effort. The fixed type, indeed, of 

 every flower exists in Nature, and the production of a new species 

 is never for a moment contemplated by the youngest student of 

 physical history ; but the improvement of that type, and the bringing 

 into high rehef its latent excellences, is a work entrusted unto man, 

 and one in which his assiduity has been eminently rewarded. Take, 

 for instance, the Pelargonium, and inquire in what form it is found 

 in an uncultivated state in its native home. Pluck one of its flowers 

 as it expands in its habitat, and place it side by side with one taken 

 from a new variety exhibited at Chiswick; and how great a difference 

 is perceptible ! It requires almost a professed botanist to recognise 

 the close relationship between the lanky and loose petals and the 

 angularities of the one, and the firm texture, fiUed-up outline, and 

 perfect roundness of the other. To what, then, is the diflference to 

 be attributed } The one is the Pelargonium in its wild or natural 

 condition, as it grows, like the Daisy, without the care and skill of 

 man ; the other is the same thing subjected to culture, and by a 

 long course of experiments brought to its state of full development. 

 Ten thousand years might have passed away, and the wild flower 

 would still have been humble and comparatively unattractive : but 

 man sees it, admires its features, and transplants it to his parterre ; 

 a change of soil somewhat alters its form, and constant cultivation 

 yet further rewards the possessor, until, by hybridising, a perfection 

 is attained which no dreamer even would once have imagined to be 

 possible. This is only one example out of many, of the way in 

 which the great Artificer allows His works to be moulded and im- 

 proved by the hands of man ; and in every case in which this change 

 results from human labour and care, his agency is recognised and 

 a reward is given him. 



