128 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



little flower farming for this purpose is done, as yet, in this 

 country' ; but the work has begun in California and in some of the 

 Southern States. It certainl}' would be not only a healthful but 

 a lucrative occupation for women as well as men. 



It is a difficult matter to estimate the money value of the influ- 

 ence of flowers upon the commercial life of a nation. We might 

 make an estimate of the sums received from the sale of flowers 

 and of perfumes and oils extracted from them : but try to calculate 

 the value of every article designed from or dependent upon the 

 flower, and the problem will be too vast for our comprehension, 

 and will ever be iiusolved. 



Some persons may saj- that all do not wish to become manufac- 

 turers or dealers in flowers. How shall we extend their influence, 

 or this love of flowers to the masses who toil in some manner 

 upon the land, or to those who live mostly on the water? Rotter- 

 dam is intersected b}' broad and deep canals through which pass 

 vessels of heavy tonnage. It is said that the cabins of these 

 vessels, built expressly for Holland and the Rhine, are ver}' neatly 

 furnished, and that pots of flowers are placed in their windows. 

 The sailors in these vessels can but feel the influence of the 

 national love for flowers, and, in return, care for their few plants 

 and thus increase and perpetuate that national love. Everyone 

 who has lived in a seaport town knows something of the hardships 

 and the loneliness of the common sailor. As he goes forth from 

 home on a longer or shorter voyage he is often presented with 

 books and papers with which he can while away the dreary hours. 

 But these are not enough, and he has many idle hours. Then 

 there are often those who cannot read. Why not give them space 

 for a few flowering plants, easy of cultivation, and let them be 

 interested in their blossoming and thus make an effort to refine 

 and exalt this class of our fellow men? Isolated from home and 

 friends, would not the flowers help to console them for their 

 deprivations, and would not this privilege incite those who go to 

 foreign ports to bring to us new varieties and to learn their 

 habits, thus increasing the botanical knowledge of our nation ? 



But how can flowers influence the hurrying, jostling crowd of 

 men and women, and children even, who congregate in our great 

 cities — the laborers who have but little time for aught except to 

 earn their daily bread? Those who live in cities, whether rich or 

 poor, gain much from association with each other ; but they lose 



