■JPrarHrall flnvunlHv?, 



li 



HE hand that made such bountiful provision for the body, 

 was not unmindful of the aesthetical cravings of the 

 higher- nature of man, so He hath filled the air with 

 bird-music for the delight of the ear, and hath planted 

 the fields and hung the boughs with blossoms that paint 

 themselves in a multiplicitv of hues for the gratification 

 of the eye. The two latter we gather around us in 

 our homes, and the songsters sing their sweetest strains 

 regardless of the prison bars, while the flowers, during 

 their short lives, yield both beauty and fragrance from 

 their fragile bells as a reward to the hand that careth for and cherisheth them. All 

 the world love flowers, and are all the better for that love, for the soul is refreshed 

 while the eve is pleased with their contemplation. Children delight in them; by 

 them young men and maidens interchange compliments; and to the aged they sj^eak 

 of a beautiful home beyond the tomb. The wealthy pride themselves on their con- 

 servatories and flower-bedecked lawns; people in the middle walks of life like to have 

 a few in their windows or on a stand devoted to the purpose; and even the dingy 

 cottages of the poor are not infrequently adorned with at least a single plant, often 

 the only link apparently that binds the inmates to the beautiful. 



Having devoted a very considerable space to the Language and Poetry of Flowers, 

 the author has thought that some practical information, drawn mainly from her own 

 experience, in relation to the care and cultivation of plants, would prove a useful 

 addition to the work. For however one may admire flowers, through a mere natural 

 impulse or instinct, the cultixation of them requires taste, tact, patience and much pains- 

 taking attention. And even these qualities, to be only measurably successful, demand 

 a solid substructure of information in regard to the wants, peculiarities and habits of 

 plants. It will, however, be remembered bv everv thoughtful reader that thei'e are 

 but few things in this world worth knowing that do not require much patient atten- 



329 



