one of the few pleasures that 
heart, and makes every true 
lover of these beautiful creations of Infinite Love wiser and purer 
and nobler. It teaches industry, patience, faith and hope. We 
plant and sow in hope, and patiently wait with faith in the rain- 
bow promise that harvest shall never fail. It is a pleasure that 
brings no pain, a sweet without a snare. True, some fail to realize 
their hopes, but these failures are usually partial, never embarrassing, 
and are only such as teach us to study more carefully and obey more 
strictly nature's beautiful laws. Thus we gain, first, wisdom, and then 
success as the results even of our failures. I have endeavored in a 
plain and pleasant way to give some suggestions on the philosophy of 
vegetation that I think will prove valuable, revealing the causes of 
past failures and insuring future success. Indeed, I have endeavored 
in the pages of the Flower Garden to make the subject so plain as 
to render failure next to impossible, and success almost certain. 
Experience, however, is the great teacher. The book of nature is open, 
but its wonderful beauties and mysteries are revealed only to the careful 
student. Every species of plants has peculiarities which must be 
studied, and while we can give a few general principles we can furnish nothing that will compen- 
sate for the pleasure and profit to be derived from work and study in the garden. Above all 
things, we caution our readers against over-confidence. No one has less confidence in his own 
skill and knowledge than the experienced gardener. Every season he seeks for new facts ; every 
year adds to his store of knowledge. Do not, for a moment, think that the purchase of a few seeds 
and the perusal of any work on flower culture will make a florist. The purchase of a drug store 
and a medical library will not make a physician, nor does the possession of paints and canvas 
constitute an artist. To become skillful in any art requires both study and practice, and this is 
especially true where we have to deal with nature's laws. The study of Agriculture and Horti- 
culture has engaged the attention of the wisest from the earliest ages, and yet what wonderful 
discoveries and improvements have we witnessed in our own day; and we are still learners. 
Let us all pi-ofit by the lessons of the past and become every year better prepared for the duties 
and responsibilities of life, more fitted to conquer its evils and enjoy its pleasures — learn to 
plant more carefully and reap a richer harvest of pleasure and profit. 
5 
