Vm PREFACE, 



that a great demand for export to the West Indies and South America will 

 arise, and a valuable addition to our trade be developed. 



A small portion of these Transactions may v^^ell be devoted to the 

 dehneation and description of the most striking and interesting beauties of 

 Flora, particularly such as are either indigenous, or new varieties, raised 

 from seed in this country. Independent of the pleasure enjoyed by the 

 sight of them, it will not be difficult to show that, like Fruit and Vegetables, 

 Flowers may be considered as articles of considerable trade, and are 

 therefore of importance in a commercial point of view. Civilization bids 

 us mingle the ornamental with the useful, and the pleasures of the eye, 

 although not so indispensable, are of a much more refined nature than 

 those of the mouth. There is no reason why the overflowings of wealth 

 may not pour forth a grateful and refreshing stream into the lap of 

 Floricultural industry, as well as into that of the ornamental branches of 

 the industry of the loom, or into that of the decorative arts of sculpture 

 and painting ; none why the drawing rooms of the wealthy should not be 

 rendered attractive by elegant flowers, as well as by rich flowing drapery, 

 or by the choicest productions of the chisel or the pencil. And as the 

 taste for Horticulture advances, few will be found without the desire to see 

 their habitations environed with the ornaments of the forest ; with some 

 of the vast multitude of elegant shrubs and climbers, or with perennial 

 and annual flowers, a gay assemblage of which so highly enhances and 

 increases the pleasures of the Spring, Summer and Autumn — 

 ''What were life without a Rosef" 



This feeling will be well understood by those already interested in the 

 cultivation of Flowers ; others may rest assured, that examples are exceed- 

 ingly rare, of men once engaged in Floriculture ever giving it up but with 

 their latest breath. 



A pretty strong proof, however, of the commercial value of these Flori- 

 cultural pursuits is afforded in the instance of the two exquisite SeedUng 

 Camellias, the figures of which adorn the pages of this first volume of the 

 Society's Transactions. They were obtained in the Conservatories of the 

 President, M. P. Wilder, Esq., by the persevering application of the 

 scientific principles of hybridisation laid down by Herbert. He sold his 

 stock of these two seedhngs to J. L. L. F. Warren, for one thousand 

 dollars, and Mr. Warren has since nearly tripled this original price for 



