88 ANNUAL REPORT. 
to fully explore, and will forever be replete with animating 
discoveries of new beauties. To stand upon an eminence in 
the midst of a beautiful landscape, to behold the “king of 
day,” after having cheered a world with light, life and warmth, 
as he sinks beneath the horizon, touching up the tree tops, 
rocks, hills and threatening clouds with lights and shadows, is 
glorious. MI 
It is a glimpse into paradise, a foretaste of the bliss of 
heaven. The first is like the passing away of the life of a 
good man, the last like the beginning of the life of glad child- 
hood. Leigh Hunt says: “ Flowers sweeten the air, rejoice 
the eye, Jink you with nature and innocence, and are some- 
thing to love. If they cannot love you in return they cannot 
hate you; cannot utter hateful words, even if neglected, for 
though they are all beauty they possess no vanity.” 
Rand, in his “ Flowers for Parlor and Garden,” says: “ The 
love of flowers is universal. It is an old melody which, first 
attuned in earliest time in the golden age of legendry lore, 
has come down to us, growing more mellow and sweeter as it 
chimed through the centuries, and now as then echoes with 
a music akin to that of heaven in the human heart.” 
I will say, in addition to Leigh Hunt, that flowers sweeten 
the disposition, lighten the burden of toil, and soothe sorrow ; 
and I will agree with Mr. Rand that the love of flowers is 
nearly universal where civilization has reached, and the love 
ought to be encouraged by every friend of mankind. But 
the degree of this love is as varied as the individuals of the 
human race. 
Flowers add very much to the attractions of a home ; they 
hide deformities and cover imperfections; they fill up the 
depressions and round the sharp angles that would otherwise 
be painful to the cultivated taste. It is not the grandest 
architecture, the latticed casements and marble pillars that 
adorn the palatial residences upon the grandest avenues of 
our American cities that attracts the notice of the travelers, so 
much as the sweet fragrance of brilliant flowers and the rich 
hues of trailing vines that adorn, drape and embower them. 
Rich and gaudy clothing may attract the attention from the 
plain face, but the humble flowers will be seen before the most 
stupendous works of man. 
It is difficult for me to tell you what flowers to plant, and 
what selection to make from the scores of thousands that have 
been brought into cultivation. The varieties of flowers have 
been so much improved within the last twenty years, and 
many rare gems added to our collections, while their cultiva- 
tion, especially as house plants, has been greatly simplified. 
But probably im no class has there been so great improvement 
