'IRE 



QthUWE^i gyiDE. 



CULTITEE or CYCLAMEN. 



OCTOBEE, 1863. 



1^ 



S the days contract and the sunshine falls more slantingly, and 

 ijR t/K ^^^^ mornings become mist}-, and the nights grow cold, 

 ^^ "l^-kTAj-^ ^^ perceive, more clearly than at any other period 

 Vri -)/^ of the year, how complete is the succession of 

 'V^f^V labours and pleasures connected with a garden. 

 It is in the autumn that we are best fitted to 

 reflect on the relationships of the past, the present, and the 

 future in the mind, for it is in the mind alone that the past, 

 present, and future become entities. During the summer, 

 the present almost wholly absorbs us, and we yield to the 

 enchantments of the sensuous. During winter the past 

 claims special sympathy, and we find new life and thought in the 

 "^ storehouse of memory. "When spring has fairly opened, hope 

 tells her flattering tale. The shadows are shortening, and amid many 

 joys and some few miseries peciiliar to the time, we liv^e for the future, 

 and our thoughts are chiefly of the coming summer, and the signs of its 

 swift approach that already appear. 



Now, as the trees let fall their fiery leaves, and the rain occasionally 

 lashes the pane and swells the water-courses, memory is full of the 

 pictures of summer, anticipation is awakened for the greetings and meet- 

 ings of Christmas ; the out-door world is still enjoyable, for the black- 

 berries are in their prime, the woods are in their richest colours, and for 

 days together, when the sun shines brightly, summer seems still to lino-er 

 with us. Yet we are constantly turning from remembrances of pleasure, 

 and from pleasures that continue, to cast our thoughts forward throu^-h 

 the night of the winter to the morning of the new spring, and by the 

 flowers that linger yet, taking comfort that spring will bring us plenty. 

 So in autumn, of all other seasons, the mind is best pi-epared to compare 

 the values of its several sensations as resulting from the contemplation of 

 the past, the present, and the future. Nature is ready to assist iu this 

 combination, for she gives us now glimpses of all the months. We have 

 glimmerings of fresh green beside auburn leaves and leafless boughs, and 

 the skies favour us with sunshine, wind, rain, warmth, frost, and all the 

 varieties of weather that mark successively the round of the year. 



The gardener's work is strictly iu harmony with the mood of the 



yOL. VI. KO. X. L 



