362 AGRICULTUKAL REPORT. 



A cultivator can make a garden anywhere ; among the rock?, upon the steep 

 declivity he can form a terrace, by the side of the running brook, around the 

 pond, along the border of the marsh he can make the beautiful flowers spring 

 up. lie can form beds of rich vegetables, and borders of roses and pinks and 

 verbeuas. He can arrange them in straight lines or in curved lines; he can 

 form them into squares or parallelograms, into circles or ellipses, into triangles 

 or hexagons, into any forms that may best suit the nature of his ground or 

 please his fancy. He may so arrange the vegetable forms that spring from the 

 ground, and which in themselves are beautiful, and so combine their shades 

 and hues, as to increase and brighten the beauty of the whole ; and he can set 

 his picture in a beautiful frame. He can surround his garden with trees, ever- 

 greens, forest and fruit trees, so arranged as to give shelter to the plants that 

 require it, and to protect all from the chilling winds. 



By doing a little at a time, by adding one improvement after another, every 

 farmer may in a few years create around him scenes whose beauty alone would 

 amply reward him for all his labor. A garden thus formed by degrees is much 

 more satisfactory than one produced at once by a large outlay of labor and 

 money. The pleasure of creating it is prolonged, and the expense being but 

 little at the time, is not felt. In this way, also, new flowers, vegetables, and 

 fruits are added from time to time, each giving a fresh pleasure and new beauty. 



A garden is one of the most fruitful sources of instruction to the family. 

 The farmer can here bring his children, and speak to them of the wisdom and 

 skill and benevolence of the Creator. He can dissect flowers, plants, and 

 seeds, and show their curious structure, and how wonderfully nature has pro- 

 vided for their preservation. This is one of the fine arts which the farmer can 

 cultivate ; and while he is gratifying the love of the beautiful which nature has 

 given him, he is also improving his intellect and his heart. The mere allusion 

 to this subject will suggest a multitude of pleasant thoughts. 



The farmer needs recreation, and where will he find it better than in his 

 garden 1 Time spent there M'ill make him fonder of his home, and keep him 

 from temptation. Many young farmers might have been saved from ruin if 

 they had early commenced the cultivation of a garden. The public need to be 

 urged to give more attention to this subject. Every man of taste and intelli- 

 gence should seek to interest his neighbors in it, especially the younger por- 

 tion of them. In this way communities may be influenced, and beauty, which 

 shall increase our attachment, be added to our beloved land. Garden culture 

 will surround our homes with associations of beauty, and with memories of 

 pleasure and joy that will go with us wherever we roam, and never forsake us 

 till we lie down to our final repose in the bosom of the earth. 



FLOWERS IN THE GARDEN. 



Everybody likes flowers. Thousands of persons who are not farmers will 

 read this volume ; many of them intend to be farmers some day, and are 

 earnestly interested in all that pertains to rural em2)loyments. They are active 

 business men, with intelligent families partaking largely of their tastes for 

 country life, and, not enjoying that, are beautifying their town or city home 

 with such fruit trees, shrubbery, and climbing plants as their narrow limits 

 will p(n-mit. Our suburban towns are annually made more attractive by this 

 taste for the beautiful, and something of it is finding its way into the country, 

 where grim labor has heretofore held undisputed dominion. 



The love of flowers and the cultivation of them is an evidence that true and 

 pure sentiments are in the heart ; that a love for the beautiful has dawned 

 there, and that the elements of progress are at work. One would scarcely love 

 flowers merely because they look beautiful. He who could go no further than 

 this would hardly have perception to go even as far. But when he breathes 

 their fragrance, and witnesses the manifestations of God's love and wisdom in 



