INTRODUCTION. 9 



but offer you what may give promise for the future ; and 

 believing this love of flowers to be a good, an almost holy 

 feeling, it is our wish to minister to its development. 



It has been said that no botanist was ever an infidel ; 

 may we not also say that no true lover of flowers can be a 

 bad man ? 



There is a secret influence arising from these bright 

 gems of nature, which imperceptibly makes one holier and 

 purer. 



And for this let the love of flowers be encouraged. 

 Develop it in the mind of a child. Let him grow up sur- 

 rounded by flowers, and be assured that, in the garden of 

 the heart, the blossoms will unfold, and golden fruit ripen 

 in after years. 



We have said that the love of flowers is universal : we 

 see them alike in the dwellings of the rich and the poor ; 

 in the workman's shop, in the window of the busy factory, 

 peeping into the poor man's window, and trellised round 

 the abode of the rich. 



Yet with all this love for flowers, there is very little 

 knowledge of culture. 



A plant is a living being ; it drinks and breathes ; it is 

 sensitive as the most delicate constitution to changes of 



