Health in Hoeticulturb. 105 



for them more pleasantly or successfully than in the garden? 

 We may not always guard our children from sickness, but some 

 of us are beginning to believe that "an ounce of prevention is 

 worth a pound of cure," and to act accordingly. We try to fur- 

 nish a simple diet, with abundance of fresh fruit, and never give 

 our children highly seasoned food. Pure air in the house, and 

 plenty of exercise out of doors, we regard as essentials. If your 

 boy is nervous and cross, what will you do with him ? " Whip 

 him," says some one. Yes, that was the old-fashioned rule; but 

 there is a more excellent way. Send him into the garden. Divert 

 him, and if in an hour he is not smiling and happy, " put him ia 

 his little bed," and sleep will do for him all that is necessary. He 

 will, provided he is a well-trained, healthy child, wake up a good 

 boy. I know a mother, whose son, fifteen years of age, was in 

 danger of breaking down from too close confinement in school. 

 He had no love for play or for work, he cared only for books. 

 This boy was takeo from the high school, and his mother, day 

 after day, kept him with her in the garden. She encouraged him 

 to cultivate raspberries, and often needed his help among her 

 flowers. When he began to grow weary, she would say, "Now 

 you may go into the house and I will finish this." But he would 

 reply, " No, mother, I should be ashamed if I could not work as 

 long as you." When she thought he had taken all the exercise 

 he needed, they would go into the houjfe and the mother would 

 say, " You may rest, and I will read to you." In a very short 

 time the boy would be asleep. Before the summer was over, his 

 health was improved, and the next year he was able to go to 

 school again. He finished his college course without any inter- 

 ruption and is now enjoying perfect health. 



• Does any one ask, "Are you not greatly overestimating the 

 benefits of out door exercise and work in the garden? " For an- 

 swer, I would point to these my friends, members of our Horti- 

 cultural Society. Where will you find more healthy, robust, 

 active men ? Where will you find more genial, whole-souled 

 gentlemen ? Their faces bear no signs of corroding care, or of 

 anxious fear lest they should come to want. They are benevo- 

 lent, for they have often proved the truth of the proverb, " There 



