94 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



is the most rational of all recreations. It 

 teacher forethought, industry, and economy of 

 time. It exerts the mind, invigorates the frame, 

 and constantly reminds us of the great God 

 whose hand is imprinted on every leaf, and who, 

 in his bountiful goodness, rewards us with the 

 fruits of the earth. To teach the cottager to 

 manage his garden, is to lead him to happiness. 

 To induce the higher classes to love flowers, is 

 to find them innocent gratification, and provide 

 employment for thousands." There is truth in 

 every word of this. "Gardening is the most 

 rational of all recreations." It is healthful, 

 and every hour expended in it as an occupation 

 is rewarded by the effect of it on the crops. 

 The industry bestowed on a garden is always 

 profitable, and the profit sweetens labour. It is 

 a sorry thing to contemplate the hours that are 

 wasted by the laboring classes in those places 

 where there are no gardens, and it is scarcely 

 to be helped. What is a man to do when he 

 leaves his work? It is not to be supposed tliat 

 he can sit down quietly for hours; yet what 

 can he occupy his mind with? He may while 

 away some of the time with reading; but read- 

 ing, notwithstanding cheap literature, is ex- 

 pensive. He seeks in society the amnsement 

 which he cannot find alone, and society can 

 only be found at the public house; then 

 there is a double evil, because, besides the 

 waste of precious hours, there is a necessa- 

 ry expenditure ; or, perhaps, he resorts to the 

 skittle-g:ound, the bagatelle table, or other 

 gambling amusements, in which case the loss 

 to his family is far more serious. Man is a so- 

 cial animal, and unless he has occupation, he 

 gets into mischief. It is almost certain that a 

 man without a garden goes to the public house; 

 and he cannot do so without spending money, 

 which would be useful on his children's back, 

 or in the purchase of household comforts. Ma- 

 ny an industrious man, unused to tippling, has 

 been totally ruined by his leisure; and it is 

 much to be regretted that there are no means 

 of profitably employing the interval between 

 business and bed time. If a man has his garden, 

 he blends amusement with labour, and profit 

 with both. Gardening teaches forethought, 

 because all the operations are performed with a 

 view to the future. We sow because we desire 

 to reap. We plan all our aflfairs with regard 

 to some ulterior, not a present result; and this 

 gives us a habit of thinking and of calculation . 

 A piece of ground is no sooner cleared of its 

 crop than we begin to consider what is the best 

 thing to occupy it with, and how soon it will 

 be vacant again. Gardening exalts the mind; 

 of this fact there can be no doubt. Every leaf 

 and flower proclaims the wisdom and goodness 

 of the Almighty. The man who can watch the 

 progress of vegetation, and the effects of the 

 seasons, without being impressed with a proper 



notion of his Maker's bounty, must be insensi- 

 ble to everything. Gardening invigorates the 

 frame. There is hardly an exercise so health- 

 ful; the whole body is in motion in the diflferent 

 operations. The digging, hoeing and weeding, 

 keep all the muscles in play ; and it is admitted 

 by all, that the smell of the newly turned earth 

 is congenial to health ; a fact proved also by the 

 longevity and hearty lives of the agricultural 

 labourers. The man who loves his garden, 

 wants no other amusement, and instead of 

 wasting his substance in the very natural pur- 

 suit of occupation for his mind among compan- 

 ions similarly situated, he finds every shilling in 

 his pocket, and the economy of his household 

 greatly assisted by the crops in his garden ; in- 

 dependently of which, there is downright en- 

 joyment, in every sense of the word, from the 

 time the ground is dug to the period of reaping 

 the fruit. The clergy have seen this, and are, 

 therefore, warm patrons of the science. They 

 have seen, with great satisfaction, that to give 

 a man a garden is to give him profitable occu- 

 pation for his leisure hours, and keep him out 

 of mischief; and they have always been fore- 

 most in the promotion of Horticultural Socie- 

 ties and allotments of land to the poor. It is 

 gratifying to see the change that has been made 

 in whole towns and villages by the establish- 

 ment of Horticultural Societies and the encour- 

 agement of cottage gardening. It is also in- 

 credible to witness the improvement that a few 

 allotments have made, and it is much to be re- 

 gretted that there are not means taken to in- 

 crease the number of gardens — for there are 

 very few things contribute so much to the 

 changing of idlers and drunkards into useful 

 members of society, as the means they aflTord of 

 profitably engaging their leisure time. Hort. 

 Mag. 



Plants and Gardens of the English at 

 Shanghae in China. — The gardens of the Eng- 

 lish residents in Shanghae far excel those of the 

 Chinese in the number of species of trees and 

 shrubs they contain, and also in the neat and taste- 

 ful manner in which they are laid out and arranged 

 In 1845 only one or two small English houses had 

 been built, and no gardens had been formed; but 

 now a large English town has risen on the banks 

 of the river, and almost every house is surrounded 

 by a garden. 



The late Mr. Hetherington was the first to at- 

 tempt rearing vegetables on a large scale. He 

 introduced Asparagus, which now succeeds admi- 

 rably at Shanghae, Rhubarb, Scakale, and all the 

 vegetables common in English gardens. He also 

 raised the Strawberry from some seeds I sent him 

 in 1846; but, curious enough, although it grows 

 luxuriantly; it scarcely bears any fruit. The blos- 

 soms appear to go blind soon after they expand. 

 I have no doubt, however, that some niethod will 

 soon be devised to overcome this habit, and I ex- 



