OBSERVATIONS ON FLORICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. 7 



' causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of 

 man,' who ' in wisdom has made them all,' and whose ' tender 

 mercies are over all his works.' Gardening has long been a favourite 

 art in Britain, and there is probably no country which offers similar 

 advantages for its cultivation. Of late years, however, this delightful 

 pursuit has made unexampled progress, which is in no small degree, 

 to be attributed to the formation of horticultural societies. Only 

 thirty-five years have elapsed since the formation of the London so- 

 ciety, the first comprehensive institution of its kind, and there are 

 now in Great Britain upwards of two hundred provincial societies, 

 founded more or less upon its model. There are at least twenty 

 monthly publications, and no less than three weekly newspapers de- 

 voted to horticultural subjects. Immense sums of money are now 

 annually spent in the promotion of this, one of the purest of all 

 human pleasures. ' The dark jungles of Hindostan, the fathomless 

 woods of Mexico, the unapproached valleys of China,' and the bound- 

 less forests of America, are all ransacked to add to our floral treasures ; 

 and ' governments, and companies, and societies vie with men of 

 science, and commerce, and wealth, in gladdening our British gardens 

 with a new flower.' Our flower-gardens and hothouses are filled 

 with the productions of every country, and of every clime. Here we 

 see the mignionette, ' the Frenchman's darling :' there the clove and 

 stock gilliflower, the sweetbriar, and the wallflower of our own land. 

 Here are the mosses and lichens dragged from under the snows of 

 Iceland ; there the tenderest creepers of the tropical jungles. At one 

 time we behold the gorgeous geranium and the fulgent fuchsia, at 

 another — 



* dafrudils, 



That come before the swallow dares, and take 

 The winds of March with beauty ;' 



Violets- 



' That strew the green lap of the coming spring ;' 



And again, 'the flowers of middle summer ' — 



' Hot lavender, mint, savory marjoram, 

 The marygold that goes to bed with the sun, 

 And with hiin rises weeping.' 



Holyhocks and dahlias, China asters and African marygolds mingle 

 with the lily of the valley, the scented heath, and the peony lose. 



