DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



often distilled through the aroma of twilight bloom. The flower garden is pro- 

 verbally the favorite haunt of lovers. The skillful and intelligent florist will 

 be a welcome guest anywhere, and will make friends as readily as beauty finds 

 admirers. As a rela\avion from the cares of a professional or mercantile life, a 

 light diversion to be enjoyed morning and evening, the culture of flowei-s is 

 peculiarly desirable. Here we can almost fancy that God meets us in those 

 Divine pencilings in which light weaves its endless diversities of form and 

 structure. 



Ladies should cultivate flowers as an invigorating and inspiring out-door 

 occupation. Many are pining and dying from monotony and depression, who 

 might bury their cares by planting a few seeds, and secure bloom in their cheeks 

 by their culture. In the family, flowers are quite indispensable to domestic sun- 

 shine. Children are fascinated by them ; and no luxury is greater than to pluck 

 a sumptuous bouquet for your retiring guest, or send as a token to your distant 

 friend, or to the wretched invalid. The student feels that he is rewarded for all 

 his toil, if fai^ hands toss him a bouquet on exhibition day. Flowers are the 

 choicest ornaments of the bridal chamber, and the emblems of purity and hope, 

 with which we wreathe the dead. 



As a branch of enterprise, the general cultivation of flowers is quite recent 

 and is rapidly developing. Two circumstances are contributing to extend the 

 list of floral favorites, viz : The domestication of wild species derived from 

 every part of the world, and the production of varieties by cultivation. The 

 old favorites that were known as uniform and fixed, have now, under the hand 

 of skilled culture, multiplied into many distinct and conspicuous varieties, with 

 variations of habit, fqrm and color, adapting them to every taste, and in the 

 process of bedding, enabling the connoisseur to produce the richest display in 

 the grouping of different varieties of the same species. 



The special attention which we have devoted to Flower Seeds, has enabled 

 us to make a fine selection of the very choicest of favorite sorts, which we sup- 

 ply on terms so moderate as to bring them within the reach of all. The exorb- 

 itant prices charged by many dealers, have deprived vast numbers of persons 

 who admire flowers, of the pleasure of possessing them. There are, in our cat- 

 alogue, many of the most beautiful and rare flowers, and none that have not 

 been esteemed worthy -of a place in the garden of the most fastidious amateur, 

 or professional florist. 



While we solicit increased demands for our seeds, we do not forget that 

 there is much reason to be grateful for the largely increased orders that come to 

 us from every section of the country. There will be still greater reason for 

 gratitude, if the time shall ever come, when a Flower Garden shall be an insep- 

 arable adjunct of a happy home. Let children there receive their first object 

 lessons. The beautiful flower, unfolding to the brightness of the sun, will illus- 

 trate the pure heart, unstained by immorality, and uncontaminated by vice. 

 The pearly dew drop in the bosom of the beautiful flower, will give meaning to 

 the words of purity and truth, that fall from the lips of a loving and pious 

 mother. 



