1881.] TRANSACTIONS. 37 



cents a package." Says he, " I believe the women rather like 

 to be humbuo;o;ed ! " I would not like to say that. But I must 

 acknowledge that it requires considerable effort to feel a very 

 deep sympathy for any one wlio will pay a high price for a new 

 and rare flower to a newsboy or tramp. 



I regret very mucli that I am not more skilful with the pen. 

 I feel that I have failed to do justice to the subject, or to those 

 who have done me the honor 1o come out and hear what I have 

 to say. But my heart has been in the work, and I have spent 

 such time as I could well spare. I have tried to give some of 

 the results of many years experience in the cultivation of flowei's. 

 I truly love them, and from the time when as a boy 1 used to 

 roam the fields to see how great a variety I could find, to the 

 present hour, I have found them an unfailing source of attraction 

 and pleasure. In the Summer they beautify our grounds and 

 make home itself seem more home-like. And house plants in 

 the Winter, if well grown, are a perpetual joy to both old and 

 young. If I have been able to say anything wliich shall help 

 other lovers of flowers to be more successful in cultivating them, 

 1 sliall be well repaid for the time I have spent. 



Not every professional gardener is a nice man, and not every 

 woman who grows plants is a lady, but I am sure that where 

 they are grown and cared for from a love of them their influence 

 is both elevating and refining. And as we watch the unfolding 

 of buds and blossoms on the plants which are the object of 

 our daily loving care, it would seem that some thought of 

 love and gratitude to Him who formed the heavens and the earth 

 in beauty must spring up in the coldest heart. 



