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THE 



GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



AND 



HORTICULTURIST. 



DEI/OTED TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS. 



Edited by THOMAS MEEHA.N. 



Vol. XXIV. 



APRIL, 1882. 



Number 280. 



Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Just now the newspaper wits see in Oscar 

 Wilde a shining mark. They have their fun at 

 the esthetic craze, and their little giggles go the 

 rounds. Perhaps the philosophy of Mr. Wilde 

 has been run to the extreme by would-be fash- 

 ionable people. There are always some whose 

 cravings for social distinction outrun good sense 

 — idiotic people, whose only notions of taste and 

 culture are to do that which some one else does, 

 and whose efforts naturally result in poor 

 counterfeits of excellent originals. So far as the 

 jokes of the scribes, and the satire of " Patience " 

 hit these people, no one need care who is hurt. 

 But this ought not to blind sensible people as to 

 the real objects of Mr. Wilde's work. He sees 

 that the world is beautiful, and that to join with 

 nature in the culture of beauty, is the noble 

 work of man. But there is a time and place for 

 all things. Tt does not follow because we assent 

 to this principle, we need discuss whether a pig- 

 sty should be built after the Norman or the 

 Grecian style ; whether the street-sweeper should 

 study whether his mud pile would be better in a 

 conical than in a square heap ; or whether a lady 

 with a sunflower on her bosom is more becomingly 

 ornamented than if a bunch of humble violets 

 occupied the honored place. But it does follow 



that the humblest home is more enjoyable, and 

 the humblest person more agreeable, when in 

 proper time and in proper place, beauty is culti- 

 vated as it should be. Especially is this princi- 

 ple acceptable to gardening people. The vines 

 and climbers around the cottage door ; the win- 

 dowsill and the window-jambs crowded with 

 humble pot-plants, or bearing the brackets or 

 hanging-baskets, from which the trailing plants 

 depend ; the little front yard, with its roses, 

 shrubs, or choice dwarf tree—any of these com- 

 pared for an instant with the miserable hovels 

 too often seen, is enough to make one embrace 

 the most aggravated forms of Wildeism, stupid 



i conventionalities and all, in preference to the 

 utter barrenness so profusely observed in every 



I walk around. Even the best of us may do more 

 in garden beauty than we do ; and, very often, at 



I little cost of either money or of time. Let us, at 

 this season of the year, give a little thought to 

 our surroundings. The little taste displayed in 

 even arranging properly a few native flowers 

 from the woods, will not be lost on the character 

 of the planter. He will himself feel that he is a 

 better man after his work is done, and his neigh- 

 bors will think the more of him that he gives 

 some attention to this aesthetic work. 



With this seasonable hint as to the wisdom of 

 garden adornment, we may add a few on mere 

 practical matters of detail. The garden is made 



