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 



