

THE CULTURE OF FLOWERS is one of the few pleasures that 

 improves alike the mind and the heart, and makes every true 

 lover of these beautiful creations of Infinite Love wiser and purer 

 and nobler. It teaches industry, patience, faith and hope. We 

 plant and sow in hope, and patiently wait with faith in the rain- 

 bow promise that harvest shall never fail. It is a pleasure that 

 brings no pain, a sweet without a snare. True, some fail to realize 

 their hopes, but these failures are usually partial, never embarrassing, 

 and are only such as teach us to study more carefully and obey more 

 strictly nature's beautiful laws. Thus we gain, first, wisdom, and then 

 success as the results even of our failures. I have endeavored in a 

 plain and pleasant way to give some suggestions on the philosophy of 

 vegetation that I think will prove valuable, revealing the causes of 

 past failures and insuring future success. Indeed, I have endeavored 

 in the pages of the FLOWER GARDEN to make the subject so plain as 

 to render failure next to impossible, and success almost certain. 

 Experience, however, is the great teacher. The book of nature is open, 

 but its wonderful beauties and mysteries are revealed only to the careful 

 student. Every species of plants has peculiarities which must be 

 studied, and while we can give a few general principles we can furnish nothing that will compen- 

 sate for the pleasure and profit to be derived from work and study in the garden. Above all 

 things, we caution our readers against over-confidence. No one has less confidence in his own 

 skill and knowledge than the experienced gardener. Every season he seeks for new facts ; every 

 year adds to his store of knowledge. Do not, for a moment, think that the purchase of a few seeds 

 and the perusal of any work on flower culture will make a florist. The purchase of a drug store 

 and a medical library will not make a physician, nor does the possession of paints and canvas 

 constitute an artist. To become skillful in any art requires both study and practice, and this is 

 especially true where we have to deal with nature's laws. The study of Agriculture and Horti- 

 culture has engaged the attention of the wisest from the earliest ages, and yet what wonderful 

 discoveries and improvements have we witnessed in our own day ; and we are still learners. 

 Let us all profit by the lessons of the past and become every year better prepared for the duties 

 and responsibilities of life, more fitted to conquer its evils and enjoy its pleasures learn to 

 plant more carefully and reap a richer harvest of pleasure and profit. 



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