FARMERS GARDENS. 3g3 



their structure and growth, then, indeed, are deeper and holier sentiments 

 underlying the love of llowers. The care and culture of them elevate and 

 purify the mind, and give the dus^ty walks of life many a charm that cannot 

 be found where they are wanting. They liave a refining influence on children, 

 tending to soften and polish their manners, and to inspire them with cheerful 

 views of life. 



" It is a law of our being that we become attached to those objects upon 

 which we have bestowed labor, and on which we have expended care. We 

 love the trees our own hands have planted, the vines we have cultivated and 

 trained over our doorways, and over the trellis our own hands have cou- 

 Btructed." 



Cultivated flowers are evidences of high civilization ; they are a sort of 

 floral thermometer, indicating in some degree the intelligence and refinement 

 of the people ; and their indications are as significant as are the evidences 

 afibrded by architecture, painting, poetoy, or any of the sciences. The lessons 

 of these gentle teachers are having an influence on the habits and manners of 

 our people. In a recent journey over a broken and unattractive country, I 

 passed many unpretending dwellings graced with a variety of beautiful flowers. 

 Dahlias and phloxes opened their showy blossoms in the sunshine, and made 

 the dooryards bright with their beauty. The modest nasturtiums kept nearer 

 the ground, and spread their flowers of vaiious colors wherever a stream of 

 Bunlight could find them. On the gate-posts, in flower pots, and even iii rude 

 wooden vessels, trailing plants were growing, hiding blemishes wherever they 

 could, and making the dwellings a thousand times more attractive than they 

 would otherwise have been. Where there were flowers I thought I could see 

 more order about the buildings ; an air of tidiness, thrift, and comfort, and bet- 

 ter farming generally ; and when I entered the dwellings I found the families 

 intelligent, comparatively refined, and not unfrequently imaginative and poeti- 

 cal. Strange as the assertion may sound to some, it is nevertheless true, that 

 if these last two qualities were more generally prevalent and cultivated on the 

 farm they would tend to keep thousands of farmers' sons and daughters from 

 deserting the old homesteads. 



" The love of flowers is the love of nature in detail ; it is a union of affection 

 and good taste and natural piety." Flowers are the steady, impartial friends 

 of all. They gladden the sick room, and cheer the dusty way of the weary 

 traveller. The bright golden-rod nods over the wall as he passes, and the 

 modest aster or queen daisy peeps from the thicker foliage. The ancients 

 adorned the altars of their gods with flowers. So the curled clematis forms 

 bowers by the wayside, and is called by the country people "Virgin's Bower." 

 It lays hold of the young maples and alders with its clasping tendrils, mounts 

 to the top of the surrounding foliage, and covers it with its gossamer-like blos- 

 soms. The French truly call it the "Traveller's Consolation." 



The cultivation of flowers and a better knowledge of them will not only 

 have a happy but an enduring influence upon our people. It will affect the 

 character of our farms and homes. Instead of uninclosed dooryards, where 

 stray cattle and gabbling geese are at home, and old wheels and rambling wood- 

 piles skirt the house in dire confusion, while huge dogs, grim as Cerberus, 

 guard the doubtful way to the door, there will be white palings enclosing a spot 

 sacred to " fruits and blossoms that blush in social sweetness on the self-same 

 bough." These will not only attract and please the traveller, but will give 

 the larm an advanced money value through associations of intelligence, refine- 

 ment, and taste. Children reared in such a home will go forth into the world 

 filled with those sweet affections that soften the harsher aspects of life. 

 Vvherever they travel, or trade, or sojourn, they will look back to the old 

 homestead, among whose friendly trees and flowers they passed their early 



