INTRODUCTION xi 
such works. Even the small grower will find it to his advantage 
to have some of these books which will help, at least, in identify- 
ing the things that are unknown to him. I have written this for 
Florida where our conditions are peculiar, and, as a general 
proposition, it would be of little value elsewhere. The plants of 
the warmer regions which are cultivated in the north are usually 
grown in rooms or glass houses, mostly with artificial heat, and 
they are often bedded out in the summer in the open ground. 
As a consequence they are usually dwarfed and do not have the 
vigor or attain the size that they do in Florida. 
This work covers a somewhat wider field than mere ornamental 
gardening; it is intended to discuss in a general way the decora- 
tion and beautifying of homes and grounds in our territory. I 
have as far as possible endeavored to give some idea of the com- 
parative hardiness or tenderness of the plants discussed. Those 
which I have mentioned as being suitable for cultivation in the 
extreme lower part of the state will generally be too tender to 
grow much north of that region. Usually, though not always, 
where it is stated that plants come from the tropics they are 
quite tender. Most things which are hardy in the northern part 
of Florida will flourish down two-thirds of the length of the state, 
but comparatively few of them will succeed at the extreme lower 
end of it. 
In some cases it is quite probable that errors have been made 
in identifying species, as I have not had access to extensive 
libraries or herbaria. Many of the descriptions in the botanies 
and encyclopedias are so brief, so vague and misleading that it 
is absolutely impossible for any one with ordinary intelligence 
to make anything out of them. These descriptions, often con- 
taining not over fifteen or twenty words, are as dry as the moral 
law, appearing as though their author had put his data into a 
hopper, turned the crank and ground the thing out, there being 
no remarks or comparison with other species. Even expert 
botanists with whom I have worked complain that they can 
‘ make out nothing with certainty from such descriptions. 
It is quite probable that the matter of this little work will be 
found to be rather fragmentary and disjointed as it has been 
written, for the most part, a few minutes at a time during rests 
