THE 
FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
May 1 , 1840. 
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE PLEASURES AND 
ADVANTAGES OF CULTIVATING FLOWERS. 
The pleasure derived from llowers is one of the simplest, 
sweetest, and least animal of all the gratifications of the senses; 
and it is a pleasure which is inexhaustible in its variety, and 
which may be enjoyed by every one, from the wealthiest owner 
of the stove, the conservatory, and the parterre, down to the 
humble possessor of the smallest patch of ground, or even of a 
single flower-pot in the window. 
Its variety may be understood, when we mention, that there are 
dispersed over the surface of the globe upwards of forty thousand 
distinct species of plants which bear flowers ; and from the num¬ 
ber of new species which have, in comparatively recent times, 
rewarded the labours of collectors, we cannot suppose that the 
entire number, or any thing approaching to it, is yet known, even 
to those best skilled in plants. This vast number of flower- 
producing vegetables is variously distributed over the globe, in its 
different regions, according to the several latitudes, climates, and 
characters of soil. In this respect, the usual estimate is, that 
there are upwards of thirteen thousand flowering-plants natives 
of the intertropical parts of America, considerably more than five 
thousand in tropical Asia, and three thousand five hundred in 
tropical Africa. In Australia, and the numerous islands with 
vol. i. no. i. b 
