To all Flower Lovers who may read these pages, we come with kindly
greetings. To you we dedicate our Work.
Encouraged by the many testimonials of favor with which our Flower
Sketches have been received, which have appeared in the _Boston
Journal_, _Portland Transcript_, and the leading Floricultural journals,
we were induced to prepare this volume, intending it to be made up
chiefly of those articles revised and enlarged for this purpose; but
after entering upon this work, we found so little that was adapted for
use, nearly every page has been written while the sheets were passing
through the press.
Before we were aware, the printed matter had exceeded our proposed
limits, and we were obliged to enlarge the work by additional pages, and
even then omit our chapter of "Floricultural Notes," for we wished to
put the book at a low price, that it might reach the masses. As it is,
we are sure that we have given you a great amount of valuable
information, and just such as amateurs need, respecting the habits and
requirements of those flowers which are best adapted for general
cultivation, and in a form specially new and attractive, combining the
_history_ and _literature_ of flowers, with description and mode of
culture.
It may be deemed strange that we should omit from a work of this
character a "Talk" about the Queen of Flowers, but the subject was
so full that we thought best to devote the space to other varieties
and refer our readers to our recently published "Essay on
Roses,"--advertised in another part of this work--in which they will
find the subject fully treated.
We would here acknowledge our obligation to Mr. James Vick for the
beautiful Bouquet of Flowers which constitutes our Frontispiece.
MRS. M. D. WELLCOME.
_Yarmouth, Me._, June 9, 1881.