FLOWERS. 131 



accomplished. With the sea teeming with animal life, at whose 

 death continents were to grow, other continents elevated from 

 the ocean were covered with a gigantic vegetation, unknown at 

 the present time except in the tropics, and to-day we see the 

 result, in coal-fields scattered all over the world. The earth 

 and waters cooled, the air we breathe assumed the present form, 

 when God's most perfect creation, ma?i, came forward to assume 

 dominion. 



Previous to his being called to be master of the world, God 

 prepared a place for him to dwell, and here at the creation we 

 have an example set us by the Architect of the Universe. The 

 first impression to be made on man, was to be in, and come 

 from a garden. About to be the progenitor of a race formed in 

 the image of the Almighty, it was decreed that his bewildered 

 vision should first behold God's creative power, wisdom and 

 love in flowering plants, whose perfect beauty, first unfolded in 

 a sinless world, should from that time to the present exercise 

 such a singular and marked influence on our whole lives. 

 Sacred and profane history abound in descriptive passages in 

 which flowers take a prominent and leading part. Even the 

 brilliant magnificence and wondrous splendor of Solomon was 

 eclipsed by a lily, who " was not arrayed like one of these." 

 But it is only when we call the microscope to our aid, that 

 flashing on our perceptions, we see tints that no artist can pro- 

 duce, lines that no engraver can copy, and we behold living, 

 pulsating vessels in vegetable life. Destined to play so important 

 a part in the economy of nature, we see them covering everj- 

 part of the globe ; reaching from the icy north to the torridi 

 zone, from the valley to the mountain top, we find flowers scat-- 

 tered with a beautiful profusion, each in the locality best adapted: 

 for its perfect development. Nothing was made in vain ; all 

 were pronounced good. Flowers are never out of season and 

 never out of place. A welcome and charming gift at the sick 

 bed, indispensable at the bridal party, as emblems of purity and 

 beauty, a gift that can never offend, they adnxonish us to walk 

 uprightly, for like them from dust we were formed, so like them, 

 shall we blossom in immortality. 



Probably most of the farmers of Plymouth County would be 

 surprised when told that the sales of flowers in the United States, 

 yearly amounts to over $3,000,000., Eo^ston selling 1200,000* 



