THE PLEASURES OF GARDENING. 



genuity of man dwindles into nothingness. For, while the simple cultivation and mage 

 nient of flowers is productive of much innocent pleasure, how immensely is that pleasure 

 enhanced, when science is secured as its auxiliary! The cultivator of flowers or fruit, on 

 whom the light of science has just dawned, feels like one emerging into a new sphere of 

 existence. A multitude of subjects, previously unheeded, present themselves to his con- 

 sideration, which, as he proceeds to contemplate them, diverge into a successive series 

 of interesting associations, and awaken in his mind emotions of pleasure and gratification, 

 of which he had been hitherto unconscious. Instead of being content to follow blindly 

 the ordinary routine of the management example has prescribed, he perceives that cer- 

 tain plants require a peculiar mode of treatment, and is lead to inquire tvhy that treatment 

 is necessary. In prosecuting this investigation, other and more intricate subjects 

 present themselves to his mind; thus inquiry begets inquiry, and one thought gives 

 birth to another, until, in the solution of them, he makes the discovery, that all 

 nature is governed by universal and unerring laws, that the annual changes to which 

 plants are subjected are intended to answer specific and important ends, and that 

 the whole chain of gradation in organized matter, is linked together in the most perfect 

 harmony and order. This knowledge attained, he suifers not the most trifling of nature's 

 phenomena to escape his notice. The development of a leaf on the most familiar tree, 

 offers a field for his observation, for he learns that it is destined to bring forth, 

 nourish, and mature a germ, which is capable of producing a distinct tree, that in process 

 of time would equal or exceed in size, the parent that forced it into existence. He ob- 

 serves the autumn leaves in their fall and decay without regret, because they have duly 

 performed their important functions, and knowing, that were they capable of remaining, 

 they would probably excite the young buds into premature action, and cause them to fall 

 a prey to the inclemency of the approachiiig season. 



These are some of the delights which science affords, but they are not all, for it is like- 

 wise capable of imparting an interest to the most common operations of the garden. Why 

 does the pupil of science scatter his seeds in the ground, and cover them with the soil.' 

 Because he knows that they must be thus enveloped, and excluded from the light, in order 

 that the various genial gaseous elements involved in such a situation, may stimulate into 

 action the vegetable vital principle; he knows too, that the soil must be spread over them 

 very lightly, because a proximity to the atmosphere is alike essential to their germination. 

 He watches the young seed lobes as they appear through the ground, and in imagination 

 perceives the little rootlet issuing simultaneously from the newly excited embryo; soon 

 the first leaves are formed, and calculating correctly on a similar extension and ramifica- 

 tion of the root, the earliest opportunity is made available, to transplant it to its desired 

 destination. This operation he either defers till dull and cloudy weather, or affords his 

 plants an artificial shading from the sun. This shading they require, for all the delicate 

 seedlings need time gradually to accommodate themselves to their new position. "Were 

 they not screened from the sun's rays, evaporation would become profuse, and the plant 

 die, before it could absorb sufficient liquid nutriment, to counteract it. 



But after all, it is needless for us to expatiate on such a subject, for the pleasures of 

 gardening are not derivable from elaborate treatises, nor very easily communicable. To 

 be properly appreciated, they must be diligently sought after, and when once tasted, the 

 mind will rarely become satiated, but will rove as the bee, from flower to flower, in search 

 of nutritive and delicious sweets, extracting from each successive object, fresh stores of 

 wisdom and delight, till at length it succeeds in amassing that which most truly consti- 

 tutes the wealth of man — a fund of knowledge of the great Creator's works. 



Flushing, Aug. 12, 1352. Wm. W. Valic 



