yill PREFACE. 



it. Write as many letters as ever you can, and tell us anything, 

 everything; for we are fearfully ignorant in floriculture little 

 better, in fact, than " babes in the woods." 



Rose and Lilly say : " Won't it be nice to have such instruction- 

 plain and familiar, &n& just for MS, you know." 



So say all your humble petitioners ; and we promise to be very 

 faithful disciples, too. I am sure one of the most grateful will be 

 Your affectionate niece, FLORA. 



Whether the letters written in response to the forego- 

 ing fully met the glowing expectations of Flora and her 

 friends, or not, they seem to have found a very cordial 

 appreciation, and to have been of some real service. Of 

 which fact no better proof could be given than the unan- 

 imous request of the fair florists, that they be put into 

 book-form : 



" So that each of us can have a copy, and anybody else 

 that wants one ; and as they have helped us, why will 

 they not help other girls, too ? " 



Of course there could be but one answer to such an 

 appeal the publisher consenting. 



Accordingly, the letters, having been pruned of mere 

 appendages, and somewhat enlarged, now form the chap- 

 ters of this unpretentious book. Is any apology needed 

 for allowing it to retain the freedom of a private corre- 

 spondence ? The author ventures to hope that, with 

 such familiarity of style, it may prove to be only the more 

 acceptable, and that, as a simple primer of floriculture, it 

 may afford to the " girls," in many happy homes, some 

 encouragement in the first care of their " Winter Green- 

 eries." E. A. J. 



ALLEGHENY CITY, PA., 1878. 



