No. 200.] 207 



QUARTER OF A MILLION OF PLANTS ! All ihcsc havc flowers, and all 

 are susceptible, by knowing and careful irealnnent, of greater variety 

 •and increased splendor. How much have you admired the newly 

 cultivated Dahlia of Mexico ! You perceive that from seedlings of 

 single petals, and humble tints, art has already quilled them, and 

 painted them, until they form rosettes of such splendor as no ancient 

 king or queen ever wore upon the breast. 



France is cultivating pinks in a manner we yet do not see here. 

 That fragrant little flower, of cinnamon fragrance, has already been 

 varied hundreds of times in forms and colors. You all admire carna- 

 tions. In future days the pink garden will be of itself a delicious 

 treat. 



Roses are constantly becoming more varied by art. Already there 

 are more than a tiiousand different roses Asters (stars) are becoming 

 of distinguished beauty. Tens of thousands of these lovely flowers 

 were combined in one floral edifice, exhibited in Boston a few days 

 since by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. But we have only 

 commenced. Ladies, the adorning of our gardens with flowers. 



The lovely race of violets demands your attention. See their eye*' 

 (for so they seem,) all turned to the south loith one accord. Seldom 

 have we seen a more lovely sight than a thick bed of these hearths ease, 

 all eyes looking to the south ! Who can fail to enjoy the sweet pea ? 

 what a delicacy of growth its stem and flower present, and what a de- 

 licious perfume breathes from its modest petals ! 



Ladies, you have seen the festoon rose bushes, natives of our own 

 land. Can any thing excel their loveliness ? branch after branch stretch- 

 ing out to ten times the lengths of other rose bushes, and all loaded 

 ■with their delicious American flowers ! They have but just made their 

 appearance in some of our court-yards and gardens. Take care hence- 

 forth, that you enwreath your fences and trellises with this native ro- 

 seate garland ! 



And there is another floral beauty, which once enraptured even the 

 most insensible of men. The tulip has been made to show all the co- 

 lors of the painter's palette with the most admirable forms of etruscan 

 vases ! It has been grouped on beds by garden side-walks, in tens of 

 thousands. A single one has once been sold for an hundred guineas ! 

 But, Ladies, there are yet uncultivated flowers of unknown beauty, 



