16 . A BOOK ABOUT THE GARDEN. 



"And so it is, that every day brings to a gardener its 

 special interests. There is always something worthy 

 of his care and admiration, some new development 

 of beauty, some fresh design to execute, some lesson 

 to learn, some genial work to do. Stormy days, which 

 mar the sportsman's hopes, affect him not. In his 

 stove, gay now with Achimines, Dracaena?, Grotons, 

 Ardisias, Begonias, Ipomceas, Amaryllis, and with 

 many a lovely Fern and Lycopod, he finds perpetual 

 summer ; in his orchard-house and in his conserva- 

 tory, perpetual spring. And not only is the gardener's 

 happiness thus in its duration sure, but it is in its 

 peculiar essence of a very sweet and gracious quality. 

 It ministers health to the body, and it ministers 

 health to the mind. It brings pure air to the 

 lungs, and pure, reverent thoughts to the heart. It 

 makes us love our home, content and satisfied with 

 those true pleasures which neither sting nor pall ; 

 and yet, when we leave that home, it follows us 

 wheresoever we go. As 



' All places, which the eye of Heaven visits, 

 Are to a wise man ports and happy havens,' 



so in all gardens, and in all gardeners, we find a 

 home and brothers. There is always a welcome, 

 always a sympathy. In horticulture there is less 

 rivalry, less jealousy, than in other enterprises, 

 because, first of all, the very practice of it tends to 

 make men generous and wise, and because the arena 

 is so large, and the spheres of excellence so numerous, 

 that none need interfere with his neighbour, or insist 



