118 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



very much whether some of them will come up next spring. I 

 brushed and s^'ringed with cohl water and tobacco water, but all 

 to no purpose. 



It is time to think of sowing seed. Annuals must be sown soon, 

 in order to have them bloom eaily, for the space between seedtime 

 and harvest is short, and we must be up and doing. Biennials if 

 sown early will, many of them, bloom the Qrst year, and those 

 that do not will, by being started early, make stronger plants and 

 be better able to withstand the winter. Truly the spring is a 

 busy time to all growers of flowers. Dame Nature has been stor- 

 ing her forces, and spring flowers are only awaiting her oixlers to 

 appear. The snowdrop and crocus will soon be here, and the 

 thought of the dainty blossoms fills us with gladness and delight. 

 Birds will not tarry long, for despite the weather they come, 

 bringing comfort to hearts weary with waiting for winter to be 

 over. No matter how hard the storms are after thej^ come, 

 winter cannot stay long, for the couriers of spring have arrived. 

 Let us remember, as we admire the beauties of ^the floral king- 

 dom, — 



" God might have bade the earth bring forth 



Enough for great and small, 

 The oak tree and the cedar tree, 



Without a flower at all. 

 We might have had enough, enough, 



For every want of ours, 

 For luxury, medicine, and toil, 



And yet have had no flowers. 



"Then wherefore, wherefore, -were they made, 

 All dyed with rainbow light, 

 All fashioned with supremest grace, 



Upspringing day and night : — 

 Springing in valleys green and low, 



And on the mountains high, 

 And in the silent wilderness 

 Where no man passeth by? 



" Our outward life requires them not: 



Then wherefore have they birth? 

 To minister delight to man ; 



To beautify the earth ; 

 To comfort man ; — to whisper hope, 



Whene'er his faith is dim; 

 For whoso careth for the flowers 



Will care much more for him ! " 



