. The floral kingdom : its history, sentiment and poetry : A dictionary of more than three hundred plants, with the genera and families to which they belong, and the language of each illustrated with appropriate gems to poetry . Flower language; Flowers in literature. ^'l CH literary leave-takings as epilogues and Penvoys have grown uio perhaps deserved disuse: for, as Shakespeare says, "A good play lueds no epilogue;" yet, before taking final leave of a w^ork that has ('instituted the delightful labor of many years, and bidding good-bye, .1- it were, to the thousands of human beings
. The floral kingdom : its history, sentiment and poetry : A dictionary of more than three hundred plants, with the genera and families to which they belong, and the language of each illustrated with appropriate gems to poetry . Flower language; Flowers in literature. ^'l CH literary leave-takings as epilogues and Penvoys have grown uio perhaps deserved disuse: for, as Shakespeare says, "A good play lueds no epilogue;" yet, before taking final leave of a w^ork that has ('instituted the delightful labor of many years, and bidding good-bye, .1- it were, to the thousands of human beings to whom the book will ^> illbrd an introduction, the author would fain add a parting word to â ^ 111 force the incalculable moral, intellectual and aesthetic value of flori- culture. Science, in any department of knowledge, is of intrinsic worth to the human mind, but floriculture is eminently instructive, useful and agree- able. If all the plants of the world were of one shape, size and color, there would result a monotonous uniformity so burdensome to our imagination as can scarcely be conceived in the presence of the almost infinite variety we now enjoy. Nature, as if enticing us to search for her hidden treasures, has j^roduced many wonderful forms so different from each other that our curi- sity is awakened when we first observe some unusual product of her handiwork; and, thus stimulated, we are led to look for fresh peculiarities, and to push our investigations into the innumerable recesses of the vegetable kingdom. The researches of the botanists have added largely to our list of food-plants, and ha\e given us a sure guide as to which, among the many varieties of edible plants, are best adapted to supply our wants. Indeed, primitive man must have been a botanist in a small way. when he first discovered that plants afforded food fit for his use; so that a rude botany must have been the first science cultivated among men. The first step toward civilization was therefo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectflowers, bookyear1877
