286 Landscape Gardening 



seize on that happy medium, between the English pas- 

 sion for everything out of doors, and the French taste for 

 nothing beyond the drawing room. Everything which re- 

 lates to the garden, the lawn, the pleasure grounds, should 

 claim their immediate interest. And this, not merely to 

 walk out occasionally and enjoy it; but to know it by heart; 

 to do it, or see it all done; to know the history of any plant, 

 shrub, or tree, from the time it was so small as to be invisible 

 to all but their eyes, to the time when every passer-by stops 

 to admire and enjoy it; to live, in short, not only the in- 

 door but the out-of-door life of a true woman in the country. 

 Every lady may not be ' ; born to love pigs and chickens" 

 (though that is a good thing to be born to); but, depend 

 upon it, she has been cut off by her mother nature with less 

 than a shilling's patrimony, if she does not love trees, flow- 

 ers, gardens, and nature, as if they were all part of herself. 

 We half suspect, if the truth must be told, that there is a 

 little affectation or coquetry among some of our fair readers, 

 in this want of hearty interest in rural occupation. We 

 have noticed that it is precisely those who have the smallest 

 gardens, and, therefore, who ought most naturally to wish 

 to take the greatest interest in their culture themselves, - 

 it is precisely those who depend entirely upon their gardener. 

 They rest with such entire faith on the chivalry of our sex, 

 that they gladly permit everything to be done for them, 

 and thus lose the greatest charm which their garden could 

 give - - that of a delightful personal intimacy. 



chanic and farmer relieve, as much as possible, his wife from all severe 

 labor, all disagreeable employments, but there is also, in relation to them, 

 and to women in general, a disposition to oblige, that is unknown among 

 us, even in men who pique themselves upon cultivation of mind and 

 literary education." * 



" We buy our wives with our fortunes, or we sell ourselves to them for 

 their dowries. The American chooses her, or rather he offers himself to 

 her for her beauty, her intelligence, and the qualities of her heart; it is 

 the only dowry which he seeks. Thus, while we make of thai which is 

 most sacred a matter of business, these traders affect a delicacy, and an 

 elevation of sentiment, which would have done honor to the most perfect 

 models of chivalry." 



