10 



also to improve and renovate the earth by fertilizing agents; 

 and the vegetable, animal, and mineral kingdoms here conspire 

 in its cause.* 



With an admirable ingenuity excited by its wants and its 

 emergencies, from age to age it has contrived implements, ma- 

 chines, and other articles of mechanism. In the history of these, 

 is comprehended much to entertain and discipline the mind. 



With a parental care, it rears appropriate stmctures, for the 

 nourishment, security and preservation of its household ; it erects 

 larger edifices, both for use and ornament ; and it disposes all, 

 with a regard to the just principles of taste. Its gardens thus 

 are Landscapes, where the useful and agreeable, as lights and 

 shades in the chiaro-oscuro, charm the eye. 



These lovely scenes are the abode of the aimable genius of 

 Horticulture. She ranges the wide world with an indefatigable 

 assiduity ; she gathers, and transfers, and naturalizes, and adapts 

 to our use, whatever can regale the senses. And it is her envi- 

 able occupation " to dress and keep" what she has thus gather- 

 ed and arranged. A boundless theme is here presented ; it is 

 the application of her Art. It is to sow ami plant; to prune, 

 to train, and to transplant ; to propagate by grafting, cutting, 

 budding, layering and inarching. And connected with these 

 operations are remarkable phenomena, that lead the mind to 

 pleasing and to elevating thoughts; for it may thus dwell on 

 many of the most interesting pages in the book of Nature. 



Both as a SCIENCE and as an ART, if it be properly apprecia- 

 ted, Horticulture is abundant in resources. It has occupied the 



* LOUDON, in his Encyclopedia of Gardening, Lend. 1827, has collected 

 much that is very curious and instructive, on the topicks contained in this and 

 the two following paragraphs. 



