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THE FLORAL WOKLD JCsD GARDEN GUIDE. 



due luxui'iancc in oue, aud promote it in 

 another; Low to hasten this plant into a 

 state of rest, and how to prolong the growth 

 of another beyond its natural season ; for 

 it is by such coaxing, forcing, checking, 

 and persuading that we are enabled to 

 adapt to our own peculiar seasons and 

 temperature so many interesting produc- 

 tions of the world ; aud whether they come 

 from the regions of everlasting snow, or ' 

 from the burning jungles of the tropics; 

 ■whether from the cool clefts of alpine soli- i 

 tudes, where nature waters them with the 

 trickling of glaciers, or from the dry lava 

 of volcanic sites, whei'c perhaps rain never 

 falls, to compel them to shake hands as 

 friends, and cease all disputes about the 

 superiority of their native lands and sea- 

 sons, in full content with the circum- 

 stances with which the vigilant gardener 

 has surrounded them. 



It is at this point that gardening rises 

 to the dignity of an art. Let any one take 

 a survey of one of the best modern gardens, 

 in the height of the season, and say whe- 

 ther gardening should not be classed as one 

 of the highest of the fine arts, for it paints 

 not ffom life, but with life ; it models not 

 after a form, but into endless forms of 

 grace and symmetry and power, and it 

 performs its best woi'ks by the aid of sub- 

 jects that are foreign to our soil, our sea- 

 sons, and even, in some cases, to the very 

 sunshine under which they grow ; yet the 

 gardener has so moulded their habit and 

 altered tJieir constitution, that they take 

 to the conditions as if they were " to the 

 manner born." Then, if we go a step 

 higher, and consider how a few poor pelar- 

 goniums, dahlias, chi-ysanthemums, tulips, 

 hyacinths, and other such things, which at 

 their first introduction were not much 

 more attractive than the commonest weeds, 

 have, under the nninipnlations of the 

 hybridizer, become the parents of thou- 

 sands of varieties, to which every season 

 makes additions of still belter ones, we shall 

 see that, in a set ondaiy sense, the gardener 

 is a creator as v eli as a modeller of bt aut j^ 

 Give him a thin, ragged, and almost colour- 

 less weed, and as soon as his sharp eye de- 

 tects its capability for improvement, he 

 marries it to some kindred flower, or to 

 one of its own family which may present 

 desirable qualities ; the progeny will be one 

 step in advance, and, by steady repetition 

 of the process, the platit will at last rise to 

 the dignity of a florists' flower, its varieties 

 will be counted by thousands, and glad 

 eyes will gaze upon myriads of gorgeous 

 blooms set out on the exhibition stage, 

 little dreaming that the parent of all these 



variously coloured and diverse varieties 

 was but a poor, slender, unnoticeable 

 thing which a passer-by would have 

 spurned with his loot as " a weed " worth- 

 less of attention. ^Vhat would the first 

 dahlia, or the first half-dozen pelargo- 

 niums, or the first chrysanthemum now 

 appear if placed beside a few of the best of 

 their progeny raised of late years. Aud 

 who, except for the proveableand admitted 

 nature of the fact, would believe that the 

 thousands of different varieties, glowing in 

 all the hues of the rainbow, aud conform- 

 ing to severe rules as to forms and proper- 

 ties, are the descendants of such unat- 

 tractive things as were for the most part 

 the pai'cnts of what are known as florists' 

 flowers ? Nor can one fail to feel astonish- 

 ment at the patience which has been shown 

 in attaining such results. It may take 

 twenty years to convert a " self," or one- 

 coloured tulip into a "feathered" Cower, 

 and it is seldom that they " break" in 

 less than seven ; yet look at the collec- 

 tion of such a man as the late John Law- 

 rence, or go over the ranunculuses of 

 Tyso, or the chrysanthemums of Salter, or 

 the pelargoniums of Turner and Hender- 

 son, and remembering the original mate- 

 rials, it will be almost hard to believe that 

 human agency alone has brought such 

 results about. 



It might seem absurd to drop down 

 from the consideration of these high 

 departments of the art to the humblest 

 example, as seen in a cottage plot ; but 

 the best joy of a garden is, that it levels 

 all distinctions, and makes eveiy sincere 

 labourer, however mean under ordinary 

 comparijons, alike meritorious. Look at 

 the old Granny in her mobcap and gray 

 gown : she is a picture of the past, worthy 

 to live fcr ever on Frith's canvas, and call 

 tears to the eyes of many in the future; 

 but see hew, in spite of age, wrinkles, and 

 indigence, a little of the poetry of youth 

 clings about her dear, old heart, in the 

 love !:he btars her half-dozen flowers. She 

 has known kteu want, for her home is an 

 almshouse; she has lost all that wei'e 

 dear to he: of kindred, and in her night- 

 watches counts over the last words of her 

 [ dear Betty, who died in childbed many, 

 many years ago; over her mantelpiece is 

 the old-fas^hioned black jjaper profile of him 

 who was her stay on earth, her friend, aud 

 companion, and to vhom she gave herself 

 with all her heart, in the freshness and 

 fullness of life's first love. She looks on it 

 as she sits smoothing her apron at her 

 daily meals, and wonders whether God 

 will call her to him " this winter," for her 



