INTRODUCTION 



TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



THE cultivation of flowers is a delightful and engag- 

 ing employment, adapted to almost every age and sta- 

 tion. The high and the low, the rich and the poor, the 

 youthful and the aged, are alike susceptible of a taste 

 for this delightful amusement. For those who have 

 retired from the busy scenes of life, it is a grand sub- 

 stitute for the engrossing occupations of business. The 

 exercise required will be a sure passport to, and the 

 preservation of, the health, both of body and mind. 

 To young ladies it is peculiarly appropriate, teaching 

 them to cultivate neatness and correctness of taste, and 

 at the same time is one of the surest, safest, and most 

 agreeable remedies for ennui, a malady so frequently 

 met with in refined society. 



The present work we think has some points of 

 excellence to recommend it. Its plan is exceedingly 

 simple ; being arranged in the calendar form, all the most 

 common plants of the hot-house, as well as others that 

 blossom during the month, can be turned to at once. 

 The directions are couched in the simplest language, 

 intelligible to all classes of readers. In general, there- 

 fore, to commence the cultivation of flowers, one has 

 need only to select from the directions given in the 



