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LIBRARY 
NEW Y®RK 
BOTANICAL 
GARDEN 
PRGFACG. 
Ae fJ\ RAPIDLY growing demand for in- 
ASS formation on the subject of Flori- 
‘ Faa\ culture from correspondents in 
widely separated parts of the 
South; a knowledge that no work 
exists on plant culture that affords 
the amateur intelligent informa- 
; tion of bie to get the best results. from flowering 
-and ornamental plants in our peculiar climate, 
together with a great desire to more fully extend the 
love of Floriculture in a climate congenial to so 
- fascinating a pursuit, formed a combination of cir- 
-cumstances that induced the publication of the 
present volume, - 
It is said that “gardening is an employment for 
which no man is too high or too low ;” this aphorism 
-no doubt applies most directly to the operations in 
the flower garden, and the development of the beau- 
tiful in nature. Every flower garden in the country 
is a beautiful expression of civilization, intelligence 
and culture, and fosters the refinement of its people, 
therefore the advancement of a vocation at once so 
