PREFACE. 



In presenting the fifth bouquet of flowers from the 

 home garden, occasion is made for returning thanks for 

 the generous manner in which, with all their faults, the 

 several gatherings have been received. The form of 

 the work compels concentration, and it is well known 

 that to write a long letter is much easier than to write 

 a short one. It has sometimes troubled me that the 

 brief space at command for presenting information 

 compelled me to omit matters which, at the moment 

 of writing, appeared to me of the highest importance. 

 But now, when the task is completed, I see clearly that 

 in the lightest of brief sketches there may often be 

 conveyed a considerable amount of useful information, 

 and perhaps in such a case as the present all that is 

 really required. Unhappily, the shortness of the otory 

 is no defence against the intrusion of error, and while 

 returning thanks for the cordial reception which the 

 former volumes of the work have obtained, it is 

 necessary to ask pardon for any slips of the pen that 

 may be discovered. S. H. 



