1891-92]. CANADIAN WILD FLOWERS IP A4r/ 
Director-in-chief of experimental farms, Mr. James Goldie, of Guelph, an 
enthusiastic botanist, and the writer; plans were prepared and a com- 
mencement made, thus laying the foundation of such an institution. 
But there came a change of ministers, and with that a change of counsels, 
and the discharge of the committee. There is now no prospect of such 
an arboretum and garden being established in our day, nor for many a 
day to come. Hence, the only hope of preserving to those who will 
come after us the beautiful plants that now are scattered in wild-wood 
shade, by running stream, in marshy fen, on sunny bank, and in open 
prairie, seems to lie in the possibility of being able now to awaken in our 
citizens, and especially in those who with the writer claim this’as the land 
of their birth, an interest in these wild-flowers as a means of beautifying 
the grounds about their dwellings. 
In order to the awakening of this interest it will be necessary to sub- 
stitute a more simple and natural taste in the place of that engendered 
by the bedding-out system so long in vogue, which demands masses of 
blazing color, ribbons of red, white and blue, and formal designs in flower 
or foliage in which there is not one touch of nature; yet this change will 
come, its dawn is already breaking. Deep down in the human heart 
there ever lives a chord that vibrates in unison with nature. It is made 
apparent by the desire so very commonly cherished by busy toilers in the 
marts of commerce to have a country seat in which they may spend a 
part of each year, and to which they may retire in life’s evening. Leta 
fair trial of a natural system of gardening be made, it will then be found 
that it responds to this love of nature, that it gives a satisfaction and 
pleasure that apparent art is powerless to confer. 
Further, it will be necessary to disabuse the public mind of a prevalent 
impression that the wild-flowers do not take kindly to civilization. One 
instance of their successful domestication is more potent than any argu- 
ment. Fortunately such an instance is at hand, would that there were 
more. Mr. Jas. L. Hughes has 328 varieties of wild-flowers growing in 
his garden, and he states that “nearly every variety grows as well under 
cultivation as in its native locality, many of them do better.” Could we 
have a few more such gardens, exemplifying the adaptedness of Canadian 
wild-flowers to the requirements of floriculture, there would be good 
ground to hope that such an interest might be awakened as would secure 
the cultivation and thereby the preservation of our most beautiful and 
desirable species. 
The enumeration of all the wild-flowers that could well be employed 
in ornamental gardening would be but a wearisome repetition of names, 
yet it seems desirable to mention some of the most prominent, those 
most likely to interest the general public. 
