250 THE FLOK1ST. 



pleasing, is unsound, and that I seek to arrive at a great and mag- 

 nificent result from a very inadequate and insufficient cause. 



Let us see, then, what can be said by way of attempting a reply 

 to these objections. 



In the first place, then, as to the increasing appreciation of the 

 beautiful, as displayed in an extended and extending love of flowers. 

 The proof of this might easily be found by simply looking round us. 

 But I will go further, and say, Find me the man or woman at the 

 present day of any thing approaching to decency of life, who does 

 not desiderate a garden to the house in which he or she may live, 

 or, failing that, a flower to grace the parlour- window with, — find 

 them, and if they care not for these things, then shall they be num- 

 bered with the ichthyosaurus and megatherium of the olden days. Or, 

 if you will, go lower still, and dive down among the " people," — 

 among those who as yet must live in dank, unwholesome " city pent ;" 

 and even there the spirit strives for utterance, and the window-sill 

 provides what the paved back-yard denies. And where that love has 

 gratified itself as best it may, then rest assured that other virtues 

 are not wholly dead, but, like the smoke-dried plant itself, their pre- 

 sence is gainsayed because unseen. But give them each the scope 

 they want, — give them the fresh air of heaven, for lack of which they 

 mutually pine, — give the one the pure water for which it craves, and 

 the others the social light for want of which they die ; and the 

 flower and the virtues shall grow up — the one tending to the nur- 

 ture of the other — and produce blooms which shall cast around 

 them fragrance, beauty, holiness, and love. 



Again, let the doubter throw his memory back some ten years or 

 less, and state what was the condition of our gardens then, as com- 

 pared to those at present cultivated. Will he be bold enough to 

 say, that neither in taste of arrangement, class of flowers grown, and 

 above all, the amount of perfection to which the flowers are culti- 

 vated, has the public taste progressed ? And if he deny my position, 

 then I would refer him, as the latest instance which has come un- 

 der my own observation, to the beauty of growth of the Dahlia, as 

 displayed in so many of our people's town-garden borders. And 

 this, in the great majority of instances, in spite of great difficulties 

 and disappointments, — without pits, heat, or greenhouse, with no- 

 thing but their love of the pursuit to urge them to success, and, too, 

 a success which they achieve. And is not this achievement in it- 

 self sufficient proof that the love of the beautiful, as exemplified in. 

 floral culture, is progressing and taking deep root in the hearts of 

 the people, and that we may congratulate ourselves on so pleasing, 

 so pregnant, so encouraging a fact? 



And now as to the results that may accrue from our town-gar- 

 dens and parlour- windows. The first that strikes us as the most im- 

 portant, because of wider influence and more national interest, is the 

 correctness of taste that the subjects under consideration may induce, 

 by attuning the eye, so to speak, and elevating the understanding 

 to a better knowledge and appreciation of the higher orders of the 

 art, as exemplified in sculpture, architecture, and painting. May we 



