INTRODUCTORY. 



cerned, attempts have been made by philanthropic 

 persons and by philanthropic associations to foster 

 and encourage the new taste. The wealthy, when 

 they have not window gardens, have the means 

 of providing similar objects of enjoyment. Their 

 wealth enables them to gratify their tastes ; and 

 these are not fettered by any considerations of 

 cost. But in our cities and towns, the immediate 

 surroundings of the poor whoso existence is too 

 commonly cheerless and sad are painfully dismal. 

 Penury and suffering, too, add piquancy to the 

 depression which is naturally caused by such 

 dismal surroundings : and the efforts of those 

 who have spent time and money in the endeavour 

 to relieve the dull monotony of the lives of the 

 poor, have been directed to a noble end. 



Whilst, however, the poor of our large towns 

 feel more keenly than the well-to-do or the rich 

 the necessity of having, in or about their dwellings, 

 some such enlivening influence as would be pro- 

 duced by the presence of plants or flowers, it is 

 the rich who, from their more abundant means, 

 have adopted ' window gardening ' to the greatest 

 extent. But amongst all classes of town dwellers 



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