298 TRANSACTIONS OF THE HORTICULTURAL 



sion of a dangerous or dishonorable servitude. In the language of 

 Dickens, '' Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of 

 its own, and from morning to night, as from cradle to grave, is but 

 a succession of changes, so gentle and easy that one can scarcely 

 mark their progress." 



It is not our intention to encroach upon the grounds of the 

 horticulturist or agriculturist, but simply glean a few thoughts and 

 lessons from forest, garden and field. 



He who passes along with an indifferent air, and who has never 

 interrogated nature, may ask whether it will not always be the same 

 thing if the soil be red or white, and a thing which is virtually 

 inert? It is a vast mystery. The smallest blade of grass which 

 grows under our feet knows more of it than we do. The soil is a 

 power. This we see under tropical zones; and our temperate 

 climates, with their soberer vegetation, do not less clearly explain, in 

 the variety of their vegetable carpet, that power of its hidden 

 elements, its inner activities, that spirit of life which circulates under- 

 neath and ever makes the plant something different from itself. If 

 the delicate meadow grasses love to climb the mountain heights, the 

 cereals, those friends of man, prefer the plain, where they may ex- 

 tend at will the dense forest-like grove of their ripened ears. 



Nothing shows more plainly the tender goodness of our Creator 

 than the contributions of beauty, with utility that he has placed 

 upon the earth. He not only bestows upon us the necessaries of life, 

 but he mingles with them objects that give us pleasure. Soft clouds 

 of pink and white blossoms precede the fruit of the cherry and the 

 peach; and amid the farmer's crops the golden-hearted daisy and the 

 azure corn flower raise their heads, preaching in silent voices sermons 

 of love and praise. In all things beauty is the shadow of utility, 

 always accompanying it, and softening its rough outlines and angles. 

 Flowers are the most common expression of the beautiful in nature, 

 and they exhibit many powers and properties which the science of 

 man has never been able to explain. 



There is nothing about a country home more permanently 

 pleasing to the eye than a well-kept lawn. Flowers and shrubbery 

 are beautiful, but they do not satisfy a cultured taste as does the 

 emerald green of a fresh velvety turf. As to its being a waste of land 

 to devote a few rods in front of the house to a lawn, it is no more 

 wasteful than to devote the same space, as is usually done, to trees 

 and shrubbery. 



We do not begrudge the chickens a yard in which to run, flirt 

 and frolic; and are not children entitled to equal privileges with the 

 chickens? Whatever makes home attractive, if it is no more ex- 

 pensive than a lawn, is not wasteful. 



How many meanings in the single word garden, and how many 

 interpretations have been given to it! In making a garden man 

 should endeavor to interpret and follow out the wishes of nature, in- 



