PREFACE 



TO TUB 



WILD FLOWERS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



rpHE first and second edition of our Book of Wild Flowers was publishe<l last year 

 A under the title of "CANADIAN WILD FLOWERS;" but it has been sug- 

 gested by some American friends that we ought not to have limited the title to the 

 Wild Flowers of Canada, as nature has given them a much wider geognifdiical 

 range, and, in fact, there are none of those that have l)een i)ortrayed and described 

 in our volume but may be found diffused over the whole of the Eastern and Northern 

 States of the Union, as well as to the North and West of the Great Lakes. We, there- 

 fore, have rectified the error in our present issue, not wishing to put asunder those 

 whom the Great Creator has united in one harmonious whole, each family and tril)e 

 finding its fitting place as when it issued freshly forth from the Ixjunteous hand of 

 God who formed it for the use of His creatures and to His own honor and glory. 



As our present volume embraces but a select few of the Native Flowers of this 

 Northern Range of the Continent, it is our intention to follow it by succeeding series, 

 which will present to our readers the most attractive of our lovely Wild Flowers, and 

 flov.-ering shrubs. The subject ofiers a wide field for our future labours. 



Wliat a garland of loveliness has nature woven for man's admiration, and yet, 

 comparatively speaking, how few app 'eciate the beauties thuo lavishly bestowed 

 upon them? 



The inhabitants of the crowded cities know little of them even by name, and 

 those that dwell among them pass them by as though they heeded them not, or 

 regarded them as worthless weeds, crying, " Cut them down, why cumber they the 

 ground ?•' To such careless ones they do indeed " waste their sweetness on the desert 

 air." Yet the Wild Flowers have deeper meanings and graver teachings than the 

 learned books of classical lore so much prized by the scholar, if he will but receive 



them. 



Tliey shew him the parental care of abenificent God for the winged creatures of 

 the air, and for the sustenance of the beasts of the field. They point to the better 

 liie, the resurrection from the darkness of the grave. They are emblems of man's 



B 



