16 
INTRODUCTION. 
moisture or the dryness of the air. The awns are furnished 
with stiff points all turning toward one end; which extend 
when moist, and shorten when dry. The points, too, prevent 
their receding, so that they are drawn up or forward; as 
moisture is returned, they advance, and so on; indeed, they 
may actually be said to travel forward. The capsules of the 
geranium furnish admirable barometers. Fasten the beard, 
when fully ripe upon a stand, and it will twist itself, or un¬ 
twist, according as the air is moist or dTy. The flowers of the 
chiclcweed, convolvulus, and oxalis, or wood-sorrel, close their 
petals on the approach of rain.” 
Gardens have been the delight of poets in all ages. All 
our poets have sung of flowers. They serve all purposes; and 
we are reminded of the fable of the flowers, where the rose 
says— 
What can a poet do without us ? 
“ But it is not poets alone who half-worship flowers. What 
an enthusiastic devotion is that which sends a man from the 
attractions of home, the ties of neighbourhood, the bonds of 
country, to range plains, valleys, hills, and mountains, for a new 
flower ! What a spirit must have animated Hermann, Hassel- 
quist, Tournefort, Linnaeus, Solander, Saussure, Humboldt, and 
hundreds of those who have sacrificed every personal conveni¬ 
ence and-selfish motive for the sake of illustrating the volume 
of nature, and opening almost a new -existence upon those 
whose researches are necessarily limited. But the love of 
flowers is not shared exclusively by the poet and the naturalist. 
Oh no! the little child loves the flower-garden, and watches 
with intense interest the early opening buds, such fair types of 
itself. The young, the middle-aged, and the hoary head, sil¬ 
vered with the snows of threescore years and ten; all, all hang 
