54 CURSORY REMARKS ON THE TULir. 



It is on this account that I am such a warm advocate for the general 

 establishment of floricultural societies throughout the country ; for 

 surely nothing can be more innocent or more exhilarating to all than 

 the pleasing recreation of superintending a few beds of succession 

 flowers. It completely eradicates the inclination for those low and 

 demoralizing sports which have spread so much vice and immorality 

 over the land, by diffusing a wide and expansive taste for the wonders 

 and beauties of the creation ; it relieves the mind from the tedium of 

 business, and forms a relaxation highly beneficial to all. To the 

 man of business, it is a pleasing relief from the monotonous routine 

 practised at the counter j to the student, it is an instantaneous balm 

 to the mind after laborious and difficult investigations ; and to the 

 sedentary man, it possesses a peculiar charm, presenting to his ad- 

 miring gaze a little paradise of his own creation, enlivened by the 

 music of uncounted songsters, and perfumed by the various beauties 

 which spring up to maturity under his own watchful care and culti- 

 vation. 



Setting aside the value of floriculture as a mere recreation, I can- 

 not help thinking that it is one of the best means of advancing the 

 cause of morality by diffusing a taste for the various herbaceous and 

 other beauties which meet the eyes of the summer rambler on every 

 side, and thus almost insensibly working a moral regeneration 

 throughout society, by teaching us to think of the omniscience of 

 that Being under whose care and superintendence all our beauties 

 are matured. Who, for instance, can stoop down to look at a pure 

 tulip cup, with its beautiful flame or delicate feathering, without 

 pausing, and wondering, and admiring, and comparing its purity 

 and elegance with the feeble imitations of the artist's pencil ? — who 

 will not be ready to admit, that the hand of more than a human artist 

 has been there? 



And to raise this feeling in the breasts of society at large is surely 

 worthy of an effort. Surely, Mr. Editor, there is not one of your 

 readers but who will be ready to exclaim that it is a 



"Consummation devoutly to be wished." 



And I have no doubt whatever that this consummation might very 

 easily be attained in every town and village in the empire, if there 

 only could be raised a little more general confidence among the dealers 



