132 TKANSACTIONS OF THE HORTICULTUBAL 



The first man was given Eden to keep it and to dress it. Even 

 before the fall, man was given something to do. The hand of Na- 

 ture was lavish but not universally so. All landscapes were not 

 equally favored and each could be improved by cultivation. Seed 

 bearing vegetation made it possible for man to follow Nature's sug- 

 gestion. Adam, after the expulsion, had memories of Paradise to 

 .draw upon when fitting up his later home, and we may infer, he imi- 

 tated largely the scenes he left behind him. It becomes the duty of 

 every possessor of a home to make his place of residence attractive — 

 to copy the first Eden if Nature has not done so for him. Home 

 decoration is a subject that we cannot lightly pass over. It is a 

 great moral principle that should be inculcated by the head of every 

 household and should rank next in importance to the health and 

 comfort of the family. It is the foundation stone of order, ambition 

 and gesthetics in the body politic and is a branch of education not 

 to be neglected. 



In the department of horticulture, there is a broad field for the 

 exercise of our decorative tastes and no branch of ornamental re- 

 sources admits of more economic development. The poorest home can 

 afford a pot of graceful ivy to twine across the cornice or around a 

 picture. On the window ledge may bloom continually some little 

 flowering plant, that will awaken in the minds of the growing young 

 inmates of that family a reverence for the beautiful. 



Upon the premises of every country homestead there may be the 

 well-kept lawn, small, perhaps, but inviting, and a little nook re- 

 served for the flower-garden. The trees and shrubbery should be 

 kept trimmed, the buildings neat and in good repair. It is astonish- 

 ing what a change in appearance a little trouble and pains will 

 accomplish. 



In our cities there are equal opportunities for cheerful home- 

 making. Cut off from much that by nature tends towards making 

 an attractive home, the city resident has to resort more to ingenu- 

 ity than does his rural neighbor. Order, cleanliness and taste, 

 however, will go as far in city or town toward beautifying the 

 exterior and interior of the home as in more secluded spots. Chil- 

 dren will take an interest in home decoration that will astonish any 

 parent who will take the pains to develop such a taste in the house- 

 hold, and these same children will assume much of the care and 

 work necessary to the maintenance of decorative objects in the 

 home, if they be properly trained. 



Such rearing will tend to bind the hearts of the family to the 

 hearthstone, and no gilded or decorated place of amusement will ever 

 equal in attraction the palace of childhood. 



What in early life do we love to dwell on most? Not the long 

 day's confinement indoors, at school or at home tasks, not the slight 

 drudgery nor any of the unpleasantnesses of childhood; but the 



