INTRODUCTION. 
13 
And when a year was past away, 
All pale on her bier the young inaid lay ! 
And the glowworm came 
With its silvery flame, 
And sparkled and shone 
Thro’ the night of St. John ; 
And they closed the cold grave o’er the maid’s cold clay.” 
Games also are made of flowers. In fact, time would 
fail to tell of all the joy and beauty which .these sweet 
creations bestow upon humanity. Through life to 
death they cheer us ; and it is not one of the least of 
our anticipated joys hereafter that we shall dwell amid 
those flowers of Paradise, of which these earthly blos¬ 
soms are but faint shadows. 
And in these days of utility, when a thing is nothing 
if not useful, we must remind our readers that the veg¬ 
etable and floral world holds in it the secret of health to 
a greater degree, we believe, than is yet dreamt of in our 
philosophy. They make the air we breathe pure and 
life-giving. It is a known fact that Lavender and 
many other flowers supply ozone to the atmosphere ; 
the humble Lichen was one of the ingredients in the 
dye of imperial purple, for which Tyre and Sidon were 
famous ; and the search for it brought Phoenician com¬ 
merce to the Irish shores in the days of Ptolemy. 
Another Lichen, the Rocella tinctoria, afforded the 
first dye for British broad cloths. The Mosses shared 
in this utility. 
The Dandelion affords the Taraxacum, a valuable 
medicine. The tubers called “ Lords and ladies,” dear 
to babyhood, furnish a species of Arrowroot. The 
tubers of the Orchis afford a similar preparation called 
salep, a favorite posset with our great-grandmothers. 
The Rock Samphire bestows a pickle on our tables. 
