Talks About Flowers.

Wellcome, M. D., Mrs.Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 285K words
Chapters: 29

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Talks About Flowers. by Mrs. M. D. WellcomeAuthor: Wellcome, M. D., Mrs.,Language: English, Class: SB: Agriculture: Plant culture, Release Date: Aug 19, 2012

Editor's review

This is an English-language book on flowers, belonging to the genre of horticulture and plant culture. Written by an early female author in a friendly tone, it is suitable as light reading for understanding Anglo-American flower knowledge, horticultural taste, and everyday plant observation around the nineteenth century. Its value lies not in systematic botanical theory but in flower-talk writing imbued with the spirit of its era: readers can see how people of the time appreciated flowers and plants and sense the popular tradition of horticultural writing. As a public-domain e-book from Project Gutenberg, it is easy to obtain free of charge and to read in excerpts, suitable for casual browsing during commutes, before bed, or between gardening chores. Readers expecting a botany textbook will be disappointed, but as English plant essays, source material for horticultural culture, or auxiliary reading for language learning, it offers a relaxed reading experience. Approach it with the curiosity of "seeing how earlier generations talked about flowers," without seeking plot or system.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in gardening and flower culture who want a light introduction to old flower-talk writing
Readers who enjoy English plant essays and nature notes for leisure reading
English learners needing public-domain English material as light reading
Researchers or enthusiasts interested in nineteenth-century Anglo-American everyday plant culture

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking systematic study of modern botany or horticultural techniques
Readers who prefer strong plot and fast-paced reading
Beginners who need a Chinese translation and are not comfortable with the English original

Reading tips

Read in excerpts by flower or topic, two or three pieces at a time, to avoid fatigue from continuous reading.
Mark unfamiliar flower names first and look them up together afterward, combining language learning with plant knowledge.
Read alongside gardening practice or garden visits, comparing the text with real plant observation.
If the goal is English learning, read one piece first for the gist, then revisit long sentences and new words.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a systematic botany textbook?

No. It is closer to popular flower-talk writing and horticultural essays, focused on appreciation and everyday observation; it does not provide modern botany's systematic classification, experimental methods, or cultivation techniques. It suits light reading and cultural background rather than professional study.

How difficult is the English, and is it suitable for English learners?

Overall it is popular flower-talk writing with not overly difficult sentence structures, though it involves flower names and old-fashioned expressions. Readers with some English foundation can read it smoothly with a dictionary and use it as extensive reading material; complete beginners are advised to start with simpler texts.

What should be noted when reading it as a public-domain e-book?

Public-domain e-books are easy to obtain free of charge, but their formatting and annotations are usually plain and may contain old-style spelling or punctuation. Use reading software with adjustable fonts, look up flower names and archaic words as you go, and read mainly in excerpts rather than forcing yourself through every page.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Wellcome, M. D., Mrs. Author

Mrs. Wellcome, M. D., is the author of Talks About Flowers. Public information about her is very limited: her full English name, nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly recorded, and only this one work by her is held in the collection. Judging from the title, the book takes flowers as its subject and was likely written for general readers, introducing floral knowledge in a conversational or essayistic style that combines popular science with readability. Popular works on nature and gardening of this kind were fairly common in English-language publishing in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, often serving family readers and beginning naturalists. The author's name includes the designation M. D., suggesting a medical background, but no reliable material yet explains how that background relates to her writing on flowers. Overall, she is an author with very few surviving works and a biography that still awaits further research.