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THE FLORAL AVOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



heaven aud O earth, in the garden is 

 your meeting-place, for there God talked 

 with Adam, and there the Saviour wept 

 in agony for all. O jiolur frost, and 

 torrid sunshine! O briglit orient, and O 

 mysterious Occident, your delicatost dar- 

 lings here blossom side by side, and shake 

 their honey-bells together ; for a garden is 

 a microcosm of the world, a living map 

 of climes and seasons, a gathering of all 

 things curious, and useful, and beautiful, 

 from " the cedar that is in Lebanon to the 

 hyssop that groweth on the wall;" and if it 

 may be looked on as an open scroll of 

 pictured emblems by Almighty fingers, it 

 also illustrates the parti-coloured struc- 

 ture of the human brain, whieli draws its j 

 knowledge from far sources, and spreads ; 

 abroad ten thousand busy hands to grope 

 and gather from darkness many sources 

 of liglit and power. O moist palate ! 

 longing for luscious fruits. O dainty 

 eye ! seeking festivals of colour. O heart ! 

 panting for a lovely ministration, and ex- 

 panding in the bliss of this hushed autumn 

 beauty, seek your joy in tlie garden, 

 where the voice of God may still be heard 

 among the trees, and a deep sense of 

 peace shall possess tliee. 



A garden is a Divine institution, a 

 Biblical reminiscence, a pi'esent solace, a 

 refuge, a retreat. It is a joy all the year 

 round, it keeps the mind active in inven- 

 tion, the hands diligent in labour, and 



1 he heart warm in its capabilities for love. 

 It is the first hope of childhood, aud age 

 clings to it as an anchorage to earth, for 

 in its presence it seems as if we could not 

 die; for wc talk of "next simimer," when 

 death is already clasping our hands in his; 

 and as the chiil of mortality freezes up 

 the sources of life, the sight of a flower 

 seems to dispel the darkness, and bring 

 light and warmth from the very source of 

 all things. If I were to recount all that 

 is comprised in the joy of- a garden, I 

 should have to sketch cut a complete 

 catalogue of human pleasures, from that 

 highest and first of all, the contemplations 

 of the Deity as He is revealed in his word 

 and his works, to the hopeful labour of 

 an infant committing, for the first time, 

 a spoonful of small salad to the soil. 



But, apart from things too high and 

 reverend to be treated lightly, or tilings 

 too trivial for a grown man to flitter 

 his brain upon, I think the first and 

 chief pleasure of a garden is tha t it 

 compels one to be a gardener, which, 

 of all worldly occupations, is the noblest, 

 the most useful, and the one vibich 

 teems with the richest mental and ma- 



teri;il rewards. Compare the life and 

 habits of a man who loves a garden 

 to one who never in his life felt one touch 

 of enthusiasm on the subject. Your gar- 

 dener is a healthy, jovial fellow, with a 

 hearty word for everybody ; when he 

 laughs, you hear him, fur he cannot 

 simper ; when he greets you, it is with a 

 grip of the hand that makes you feel, for 

 he IS incapable of a touch of finger-tips, or 

 a slow squeeze of cold palms, and it will 

 be a rare thing if he does not live a 

 " righteous, godly, and sober life," at peace 

 with the world, and happy in the bosom 

 of ills family. A garden compels a man 

 to be patient, diligent, and temperate — 

 there is no compromise possible. The 

 day-break is no signal for a "second 

 sleep," but a call to fresh air and exercise, 

 and one day's neglect may cause the ruin 

 1 of things that represent many months, per« 

 } haps years, of anxious care and attention. 

 I This out-door life not only keeps the 

 I blood in a healthy glow, and the brain 

 active in its search for knowledge, but the 

 meanest tasks are elevated even to dignity 

 i by the fact of their necessity. Hence a 

 1 man who is a thorough gardener feels no 

 ! shame in handling the spade, or in wheel- 

 { ing rubbish to the pit ; for though his 

 I means may enable him to enjoy all the re- 

 finements of life, it is his pride that there 

 '■ is not one manipulation but he can perform 

 himself, and so a brown skin and hard 

 hands give him no fear that he shall loose 

 his claim to the title of gentleman. And 

 the world is very forgiving on this matter 

 — its sympathies are tcHh a gardener. 



Here it is that a striking social and 

 political feature arises out of gardening — 

 that is, the levelling nature of it as a pm*- 

 suit. In the presence of things for which 

 men's sympathies are mutual, they forget 

 distinctions of birth, and rank, and condi- 

 tion, and measure each others worth only 

 by their several degrees of skill, so that if 

 Hodge adorns his fence with a new rose 

 of his own raising, my Lord will drop all 

 superfluous dignities, and discuss its merits 

 with him as a neighbour and a friend. 

 This genuine feeling of manly regard, 

 measured by worth only, ought to rob 

 rivalry of every bitterness, and make even 

 professional competitors glad of each 

 other's success ; that it does not do so is 

 to be charged against the fickleness of 

 human sympathies, and the natural sor- 

 didness of man's heart ; for gardening in 

 itself suggests the purest ethics. 



It would indeed be a folly to say that 

 bitterness never did creep into the minds 

 of rival florists, but it is the exception, not 



