The Dahlia 



pleasant realms of poetry no liveries are worn, no 

 paths prescribed ; you may enter where you will, stop 

 where you like, and worship whom you love." So it 

 is in the service of Flora ; but to enjoy flowers to the 

 full one must do even more than love them one 

 must grow them from the tiny seedling or cutting 

 to the fully developed plant. An American writer, 1 

 after describing how he planted his seed with his 

 own hands, goes on to say, " My garden was of 

 precisely the right extent. An hour or two of 

 morning labour was all that it required. But I used 

 to visit it and revisit it a dozen times a day, and 

 stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny 

 with a love that nobody could share or conceive of 

 who had never taken part in the process of creation." 

 This is the indescribable pleasure enjoyed by every 

 true florist, and to come under its spell it is not 

 necessary to engage in large operations. A pole of 

 land is likely to yield a richer harvest of enjoyment 

 than an acre ! 



It is one of the most gratifying features of our 

 day that this love for flowers has become so general. 

 Apart from the elevating and refining influences which 

 are inseparable from a true appreciation of nature in 

 any form, this " love for flowers " has another aspect 

 It creates and sustains a demand which is an important 

 item in our home trade, Well-known firms are found 

 devoting their whole time and entire resources to the 

 cultivation of one or two particular classes of plants r 

 and national societies exist for promoting the cultiva- 

 tion of special flowers such as the National Eose 

 Society, the National Chrysanthemum Society, the 



1 Hawthorne, in Mosses from an Old Manse. 



