HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 103 



fectly fitted merely by chemical affinity without any purpose being 

 in view; has all this been accomplished by mere chance, — nay are 

 we not silent monitors in the great creation of an All Wise De- 

 signer from the poles to the tropics, in the burning desert and the 

 humid tropical swamp, and do we not teach thee to " look through 

 nature up to nature's God V 9 Here wilt thou find sermons and 

 books, for although some of us " are born to blush unseen and 

 waste our perfume in the desert air," there are plenty left im- 

 mediately under thine own eye to satisfy thee that " not a plant, a 

 leaf, a blossom but contains a folio volume in which thou "mayest 

 read and read again, and still find something new, something to 

 please and something to instruct." Would that the better quali- 

 ties of the human mind would become more frequently liberated 

 from avarice and sectarian, bickering and study God through his 

 beautiful creation, to know him through his works, and to love him 

 through these grand opportunities, surely we should be on the eve 

 of the " millenium," and we should be obeying more nearly the 

 end for which our intellect has been given. It has been my privi- 

 lege during life to be* acquainted with many energetic botanists and 

 florists, and I am proud to say that I never yet knew one who was 

 a true enthusiast in the pursuit to believe that there was no Creator, 

 on the contrary, the mind has been led to see and clearly demon- 

 strate the beauties of design, and through it to a firm belief in and 

 worship of a God without giving way to the rancourous spirit of in- 

 tolerent bigotry. 



I hope, Mr. Editor, that your valuable periodical will go on in its 

 good work of advancing the cause of the flowers and floriculture 

 generally, and that by your example, your readers may be prompt- 

 ed to pay more attention to these advisers, by which their true hap- 

 piness will be more enhanced, not only by the pleasure accruing to 

 themselves, but likewise in that which will be conveyed to all the 

 members of their families. Where is to be found a finer picture of 

 happiness, and what fitter subject for a painter, than where the head of 

 a family has gathered around him his smiling wife and daughters, 

 examining and admiring a well kept and flowery parterre. 



Here is a pleasure that cannot be experienced in the acquirement 

 of dollars and cents. A lasting gratification that is not to be found 



