"Say, what impels, amid surrounding snow
Congealed, the CROCUS' flowery bud to glow?
Say, what retards, amid the summer blaze,
The autumnal bud, till pale declining days?
"The God of seasons, whose pervading power
Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower;
He bids each flower His quickening word obey,
Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay."
H. KIRKE WHITE.
As it will be impossible in a small volume to give instructions in all
Flowers, I shall endeavour to select such as will produce a pleasing
contrast of form and colour; at the same time, including flowers of
every season, commencing with Spring--and who does not hail the early
Flowers with delight? After a long and severe winter, the appearance of
the golden crocus and the modest snowdrop, peeping from the earth,
convey to the mind a glow of unspeakable pleasure.
"Then wherefore had they birth?
To minister delight to man--
To beautify the earth."