PREFACE. 



5 



about him the scattered and single beauties, and to 

 see, and feel, and enjoy them. Nature is fruitful, 

 inexhaustibly fruitful ; but man must improve her 

 fertility, guide it, and give it its most generally useful 

 direction. Nature is full of life, but man is capable of 

 diversifying, elevating, and ennobling this life ; and he 

 is amply rewarded for his labour. 



lt Thine is a glorious volume, Nature ! Each 

 Line, leaf, and page, are fill'd with living lore ; 

 Wisdom more pure than sage could ever teach, 

 And all philosophy's divinest store j 

 Rich lessons rise where'er thy tracks^are trod— 

 The book of Nature is the book of God." 



But I had almost forgotten that this treatise on the 

 cultivation of the Beauties of Nature, is chiefly de- 

 signed for the use of the softer sex. I shall not 

 content myself by merely offering an apology for 

 such digression, but will promise, in future, to bear 

 them in mind throughout my studies, not doubting 

 but my humble efforts to amuse and instruct them, 

 will be duly appreciated; which, to an author, is a 

 source of inexpressible satisfaction. 



Having thus introduced myself to my fair readers, 

 I shall proceed to treat of the cultivation of all the 

 various kinds of flowering plants ; and I flatter myself, 

 that if I should, by implanting a taste for rural sub- 

 jects, succeed in making them good CULTIVA- 



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