INTRODUCTION. 



The love lor and admiration of Flowers is universal all 

 through the ages that are numbered with the past. They have 

 merited and received homage from mankind. In Bacred Writ 

 Matthew writes of the lilies of tlie field, " that Solomon in all 

 his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Poets have sung 

 of them ; artists have transferred their beauty to canvass ; but 

 there remained for the Gardener the arduous but pleasant duty 

 of caring for them. There is perhaps no business which re- 

 quires such a varied knowledge nor such close attention as 

 that of a Florist. The varieties of Plants in cultivation are 

 so numerous, and their culture in many particulars so widely 

 different, that it is impossible in a small book to give all the 

 information that has taken us years to acquire ; much of it is 

 of no importance to the amateur, for whom this is written. 

 We propose in this to give our experience — what we k^ioir : r,i\ 

 what we have pmc^wed for years. We are writing it for the 

 masses of the American People, so it shall be written in plain, 

 homely English, without any endeavor to make it gorgeous 

 with words that few can comprehend without the kindly aid 

 of an unabridged dictionary. We hope the reader will value 

 this work, not in proportion to the size of it nor to the number 

 of words it contains, but in proportion to the information to 

 be derived from a careful perusal of its contents. We will be 

 as brief as possible without omitting anything that may en- 

 hance its value. That this shower of Dew Drops may be con- 

 ducive to the revival of Famishing Flowers is the hope of 



The Author. 



