144 The Garden. 



confine ourself to the less interesting, but perhaps more use- 

 ful, details which follow. 



A word, however, to the ladies, to whom we most respect- 

 fully dedicate this chapter. We shall take it for granted that 

 you love flowers ; for we hold that she who does not, is no true 

 woman. But perhaps you are ready to declare that, positively, 

 you have no time to devote to their cultivation ; that you have 

 not sufficient strength for such labor; or, possibly, that all 

 out-of-door employments are ungenteel and unfeminine. 



Unless you have time to be sick, which you will hardly ad- 

 mit, you have time to take care of your health. To do this 

 properly, you must have daily exercise in the open air. "Where 

 can you take this more pleasantly or more profitably than in 

 your flower garden ? You are not strong enough, do you say ? 

 This is just the way to acquire strength. Begin very moder- 

 ately, allowing some stronger person to do the heaviest work. 

 An hour or two of light, active, and pleasurable employment, 

 out-of-doors, each fair day, take our word for it, will prove 

 more beneficial than the best tonic mixture that your good and 

 much respected doctor, with all his skill, can prepare for you. 

 Try it. You will soon be able to use the light hoe and spade, 

 which we recommend you to procure at once, with ease and 

 pleasure. The quack's Female Pills find few patrons among 

 the wives and daughters who cultivate their own flower gar- 

 dens. The idea that the employment is unsuited to woman is 

 a preposterous and absurd one. Where is her place if not 

 among the flowers — herself the fairest flower of all? Shall 

 she blush to own that her own fair hands have reared the 

 floral gems with which she adorns her hair ? But we rejoice 

 in believing that few of our readers will urge this plea. They 

 will, for the most part, fully agree with us that floriculture 

 should have a promment place among the female " accomplish- 

 ments." 



For her light work, a lady requires implements made spe- 

 cially for her use. A spade ; a hoe ; a rake ; a fork ; a trowel ; 

 a watering-pot ; a pruning-knife ; a pair of small shears ; a 



