THE 



GREEN.HOUSE COMPANION. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The most refined enjoyments of society have gra- 

 dually arisen from desires more simple, and even from 

 wants. Man is fond of living beings, and after assem- 

 bling those plants around him which he found neces- 

 sary for food, he would select such as were agreeable 

 to the eye, or fragrant to the smell. A flower in the 

 open parterre, though beautiful and gay, has yet some- 

 thing less endearing, and is less capable of receiving 

 especial regard, than a plant in a pot, which thus 

 acquires a sort of locomotion; and becomes, as it 

 were, thoroughly domesticated. After choice things 

 were planted in pots, things rare v/ould be planted 

 in them ; and from things rare to things foreign 

 and tender, the transition would be natural and easy. 

 Tender rare plants in pots would be taken into the 

 house for shelter, and set near the window for light, 

 and hence the origin of the Green-house. 



B 



