8 OBSERVATIONS ON FLORICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. 



At one time, our curiosity is excited by those wonderful resemblances 

 of livin"- creatures— the air-plant, the hare's-foot fern, and the Tar- 

 tarian lamb — ' the sensitive plant, which shrinks from the hand of 

 man — the ice-plant, that almost cools one by looking at it — the pitcher- 

 plant, with its welcome draught — the hair trigger of the stylidium— 

 and, most singular of all, the carnivorous Venus' fly-trap; 



' Only think of a vegetable being carnivorous !' 

 which is said to bait its prickles with something which attracts the 

 flies, upon whom it then closes, and whose decay is supposed to afford 

 food for the plant;' — at another, our hearts are gladdened by the 

 sight of those universal and perpetual favourites 



' That dwell beside our paths and homes.' 

 Fortunately, this innocent and most delightful pursuit requires the 

 command neither of costly materials nor of unbroken leisure, to be 

 followed with advantage and pleasure. As the love of these pro- 

 ductions of nature is almost universal, so the opportunities of cul- 

 tivating them are placed within the reach of almost all classes of 

 society. ' Gardening,' it has been justly said, ' not only affords 

 common ground for the high and low, but, like Christianity itself, it 

 offers peculiar blessings and privileges to the poor man, which the 

 very possession of wealth denies. The pale-faced mechanic or weaver 

 may derive more real pleasure from his green bed of smoked auriculas, 

 or his mignionette growing in a cracked teapot, than the lordly pos- 

 sessors of Sion or Chatsworth, from their hundreds of decorated acres, 

 because, not only personal superintendence, but actual work is ne- 

 cessary for the true enjoyment of a garden. We must know our 

 flowers as well as possess them ; and the poor peasant who has the 

 privilege of cultivating a little plot of ground, where he knows every 

 flower, because they are few, and every name, because they are 

 simple, whose rose-bushes and gilliflowers are dear to him because 

 himself has pruned, and watered, and watched them, has marked 

 from day to day their opening buds, and removed their fading blos- 

 soms,' is furnished with the means of obtaining, if not happiness, 

 the nearest approach to, in this world, content, — 



' Yes ; in the poor man's garden grow 

 Far mure than herbs and flowers ; 

 Kind thoughts, contentment, peace of mind, 

 And joy for weary hours,' 



