366 Wild Flowers — Their Cultivation, ^c. 
WILD FLOWERS— THEIR CULTIVATION, &c. 
The great and increasing taste for the cultivation of flowers, 
has induced us to devote a few pages to the subject, more par- 
ticularly to the cultivation of our native or wild flowers. In some 
of our former numbers, we have noticed some new and rare 
foreign plants, with figures and drawings of them. The interest 
of many cultivators has been drawn away by foreign productions, 
" far fetched and dear bought," while our natives, many of which 
are far superior in richness, have been left to bloom and fade, in 
all their beauty " unknown and unseen, to waste their fragrance 
in the desert air." 
It is our present purpose to endeavor to awaken a greater zeal 
among cultivators and amateurs, for the growth of some of the 
brilliant plants and shrubs, which deck our fields and woods. 
Few^ persons seem to appreciate or even know to what perfection 
of culture many of our wild flowers may be brought, in the hands 
of skilful gardeners. 
Here we cannot help remarking, that many flower gardens are 
almost destitute of bloom, during a great part of the season, 
which could be easily avoided, and a blaze of flowers kept up, 
both in the garden as well as pleasure grounds, from April to 
November, by introducing from our woods and fields, the various 
beautiful ornaments with which nature has so profusely ^decorated 
them. Is it because they are indigenous that we should neglect 
them? 
Floriculture and other branches of ornamental gardening, have 
hitherto been less attended to in this country than those of a more 
useful kind, viz: the rearing of fruits and culinary vegetables. 
A change, however, for the last few years has taken place, of a 
more favorable character. The hand of nature has scattered the 
richest beauties of the flowery world around us in every direction, 
and there is nothing to prevent us from ornamenting our gardens 
with native plants and flowers, from every wood, from every 
SAvamp, from every field, and from every brook side, to which the 
eye can turn. 
Among the great number of wild plants found in this section, 
we have succeeded in cultivating some of the following named 
varieties: , 
Cardinal Flower — Libelia Cardinalis. Among other plants 
found in the United States, remarkable for elegance, is the Car- 
dinal Flower, which in the last summer months, may be found 
along our swampy grounds near fresh water streams. From its 
great beauty and showy appearance, it is a great favorite in 
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