INTRODtrOTION. 
We love the flowers. Not only do they please the 
eye, and Ratify the sense, but to one of a reflective 
torn of mind they are the dispensers of instruction. 
Flowers add a charm to domestic life which nothing 
else cm impart. What high encomiums have been 
lavishingly bestowed upon “ vine-clad cottages ” ! 
and how often in our readings do we find notice 
taken of some beautiful geranium that sheds its 
sweet fragrance around the room 
After a dreary winter, with what pleasure we hail 
the httie primrose, that, peering above the ground, 
whispers of the coming spring, telling us that Win¬ 
ter’s reign is over, that the time of flowers has come, 
and that Flora will soon hold her jubilee on earth i 
And as spring advances and retires, followed by 
summer, that season which more fully displays the 
beauties of Flora’s kingdom, with what light and 
Joyous hearts we walk amid those beauties, watch 
the unfolding leaf, or gather to ourselves those gems 
mth which the Queen of Flowers delights to deck 
her crown! 
Flowers are the smiles of nature, and earth would 
seem a desert without them. How profuse's na¬ 
ture in the bestowment of her smiles! They are 
seen on every hill-side and in every valley: they 
cheer the traveller on his public way, and the her¬ 
mit in his seclusion. Wherever the light of day 
reaches, you will find them, and none so poor they 
cannot possess them. Theygrew first in Paradise, 
and bring to our view more vividly than any thing 
else the beauties of Eden. 
