MAY. 131 



What delightful intelligence, what cheering lessons, are thus 

 conveyed to the gardener, as he makes his flowers more beautiful, 

 and his trees more prolific, by his own efforts, when co-operating 

 with the laws to which their Maker has subjected them ! Let the 

 humble workman remember this, as with spade in hand he digs the 

 soil and casts in manure ; let the gentleman and lady florists not 

 forget it, as they yearly produce new varieties of their favourite 

 flowers. God manifestly and eminently crowns their exertions 

 with success, and proves that He is not far from us in our humble 

 toils. A divine wisdom is thus poured into the ear of those who 

 minister in the great temple of Nature ; its accents are sweet and 

 animating ; its lessons are based on actual examples, and, when pro- 

 perly learned, will promote our happiness and increase our usefulness 

 in all circumstances of hfe. 



This subjection of vegetable life to the plastic hand of man will 

 surely teach us that similar care bestowed in the culture of our own 

 spirits will certainly be accompanied with improverfient. " What- 

 soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," is true mentally and 

 morally, as well as physically ; and the great principle is illustrated 

 in floriculture, to the end that while it there delights us by its re- 

 sults, we may seek similar effects in the more important sphere of 

 our own hearts. The divine hand which stops until the feebler one 

 of His creatures is put to the work, and then condescendingly com- 

 bines its own energies with those of its humble assistant, for the 

 production of a more beautiful flower, which lasts but for a day, 

 must surely be stretched forth with still greater alacrity when the 

 adorning of an immortal spirit is the contemplated object. The 

 same reasoning will hold in reference to our duties to our children, 

 our countrymen, and the whole world. It is our duty to seek the 

 advancement of others in all that we hold to be valuable to ourselves; 

 and the lessons taught us in floriculture bear directly on our en- 

 couragement in every labour having for its object the intellectual 

 and moral improvement of mankind. 



In stating this to be one of the results of floral tastes, we are 

 aware that it is not in every case that such important and pleasing 

 lessons are recognised. Some minds are impervious to all calls to 

 advancement, whether human or divine. But it must be remem- 

 bered that natural laws work their destined ends even when they 

 are not formally recognised or acknowledged. A beautiful summer 

 morning, with its dew, its fragrance, its brilliancy, and its songsters, 

 tells upon man's spirit, although he may not express his sensations 

 in words, or even reason upon them in his own thoughts. So the 

 tendency of floriculture is as we have described it to be ; and our 

 observations will only subserve a purpose already designed by the 

 Almighty, if they lead our readers to secure a still larger measure 

 of an effect which, in some degree, must work upon all who till the 

 ground. 



Henry Burgess. 



