THE LAD\'s COUNTRY COMPANION. 135 



occasions the pleasure she experiences in watching their changes, but 

 the interest they have created in her mind ; for the entomologist 

 will find pleasure in the most hideous caterpillars, and the geologist 

 will pass whole days delightfully among barren rocks. All that is 

 wanted to give an interest in any subject is, a sufficient degree of 

 knowledge respecting it to be aware of its changes, and our own 

 natural love of variety will do the rest. 



" It is a great advantage in a country life, that its principal objects 

 of interest must be found at home ; and hence, as home is woman's 

 peculiar dominion, the noblest and the best feelings of the female 

 heart are more likely to be called into action in the country than in 

 the town. In youth, especially, the ameliorating effects of country 

 pursuits will soon be perceptible, both morally and physically ; and 

 your health, which has always been delicate in a town will, I have 

 no doubt, in the country become positively robust. As the first step 

 towards the attainment of this desirable object, let me recommend to 

 you to have a flower-garden laid out as near the house as possible. 

 I should like to have those cedars, the remainder of those gloomy firs, 

 cleared away, which I see close to your house in your sketches, and your 

 flower-garden so placed that you could step into it at once from the 

 windows of your usual sitting-room. I will hope that this may be 

 the case ; and as I am most anxious that you should have a flower- 

 garden to interest you as soon as possible, and as I must have a 

 locale to make my descriptions understood, I will proceed to give 

 you some hints as to the laying out and planting of a garden in the 

 warm and sheltered corner under the southern window of your morn- 

 ing room. 



" In the first place, it will be absolutely necessary that the remaiuder 

 of the trees should be not only cut down but grubbed up ; as it will 

 be quite impossible for any flowers to grow under the shade of tall 

 thick trees, and leaving the roots would prevent the possibility of 

 digging the ground. In other respects the situation is admirably 

 adapted for the purpose, as it is open to the south and south-east, 

 and protected from the north and north-west. Supposing the Scotch 

 pines and cedars to have been cut down, their roots to have been 

 grubbed 14), and the ground to have been dug over and levelled ; the 

 next thing is to determine upon the plan for the garden. I think it 

 should certainly be a regular geometric figure, and planted in 



