HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. j~ 



cay of moral worth, while the culture of natural beauty is 

 a sure demonstration of progress in all good and worthy life. 



The love and culture of flowers is the most natural of all 

 our aesthetic tastes ; it enlarges the life by bringing it into 

 sympathy with and knowledge of the laws that govern our 

 proper development. No man or woman can properly care 

 for a garden of flowers without learning much more than the 

 way flowers grow ; they acquire also the secret of self-culture, 

 and so are brought into harmony with the essential laws upon 

 which all progress depends. To comprehend the methods of 

 Nature in any department of her work is to understand the 

 principles upon which all her efforts are made. 



The last decade has shown wonderful advance upon all 

 others in the florist's art in the State of Connecticut. Un- 

 fortunately, no full statistics are available, but the amount of 

 glass devoted to the culture of flowers has doubled, at the 

 very least, the most recent figures showing about eight hun- 

 dred thousand square feet given entirely to commercial pur- 

 poses, and at this date there are at least one million, for every 

 year an ever-increasing amount is built. No other business 

 can show equal development, and when to this is added the 

 many costly and beautiful private greenhouses that are found 

 in every city, the enormous strides made in the State are 

 apparent to all. 



The effect of this advance in the culture of beauty is 

 everywhere apparent, and seen in two results : the increased 

 value of property and the more attractive appearance of every 

 town, village, and city in the State. Some of our villages 

 and small towns are like parks or large gardens ; there is 

 universal striving on the part of the people to adorn the 

 grounds under their control with all possible beauty, and the 

 old-time neglected, weedy dooryard that was an eyesore to the 

 passer-by is seldom to be found. The people have discov- 

 ered that no embellishment is so cheap or so effective as a 

 garden rich with all the charms collected from the best flora 

 of the earth, and brought within their reach by the skill and 



