WnAT IS CULTIVATION T 



wild strawlnTry from the woods and plants it in liis u^anU-n. With him this is cultiva- 

 tion — a mero chantije of place — tlie soil, most liki-ly, l)oin<j^ loss suited to its growtli than 

 that from which it was transplanted. Upon this princijtle, whatever is in the {garden 

 is in a state of cultivation, and for no better reason than because the common opera- 

 tions of hoeing, digging, weeding and raking are performed therein. True, tliese are 

 parts of a whole in making up a complete system of culture, but they are not tlie 

 system itself, and if nothing more were rcfjuired or done, vegetation would ultimately 

 hinguish, and become essentially retrograde. 



Another gardener (and there are many such) trnusplants a small tree from a hedge 

 to one of his garden plots, lie knows just enough of vegetable physiology to reduce 

 the head and branches somewhat, and to keep the tree exact and steady, to facilitate 

 its rooting. This accomplished, the tree has (to him) been brought into a state of 

 cultivation, and he expects it to grow and flourish far more rapidly and certainly than 

 if it had been permitted to stand where it originally sprung from the earth. If it 

 does not fulfil his expectations, the fault lay in the tree, and not in any act of omis- 

 sion on his part, by which the cultivation of it should have been perfected. Such a 

 gardener knows (generally speaking,) just enough to be quite at his ease in the per- 

 formance of certain duties pertaining to his calling, and to render him obstinate in 

 receiving further enlightenment from his employer or any body else. There are such 

 men as we very well know, capital operators with the hoe, the spade, and the rake, 

 doing well what the hands alone may do, but without the mind and skill to give them 

 the only proper direction. Cultivation has a meaning with them, but it is very remote 

 from the truth, and limited to certain acts of a purely mechanical nature. There are 

 grades of intelligence among gardeners, and we have commenced our illustrations 

 with the lowest. Let us pass on to a more enlightened class, and see what the>/ un- 

 derstand by the term cultivation. 



If one of these men is asked for the meaning lie attaches to that process by which 

 he brings to perfection a tree, a shrub, or a vegetable, he will very properiy reply that 

 their cultivation embraces a knowledge of soils, temperature, light, moisture or dryness, 

 and the application of manures. By their aid, and the use of certain implements, he 

 adapts means to their proper ends, because he knows their relative value. By read- 

 ing, reflection, observation, and diligent practice, the mind has become prepared for 

 the reception of the truths of vegetable physiology, and by a practical application of 

 them to the circumstances under which the tree, shrub, or vegetable is made to grow, 

 he cultivates them as their several necessities require. This brings perfection if it is 

 at all attainable, and the result is based upon sound and discriminative intelligence. 



There is no s-uch thing as a royal road to perfection in arranging and planting a 

 garden. But one would be induced to believe it an easy matter to do either, were 

 the opinion formed upon the illustrations met with every where of the capacity and 

 judgment of most of the gardeners employed in the United States. There are some 

 intelligent men among tlie number, but the larger portion are of an inferior caste, 

 practical workers truly, but not men of reflection, not the men who read and reason, 

 and base their operations upon the scientific elucidations of a progressive age, preg- 



