188 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



and one of them, about two inches in diameter, 

 drawing like a bolt from the parent tree. What 

 should a stranger do in such a case, — leave things 

 to their natural course, and the owner to learn a 

 lesson when Spring returned? No, Mr. Editor; 

 true, in one sense it was none of my business ; but 

 in a higher sense it was my business, if I have read 

 the Bible correctly ; besides, a fruit tree is too no- 

 ble and generous a thing to see it injured without a 

 feeling of regret, and an impulse to save it. So I 

 set to work, and in fifteen minutes had the pleasure 

 of liberating a fine tree from the grasp of the snow 

 king. The branches sprang out of their chill pri- 

 son with a bound that seemed like joy, and I felt 

 that I was thanked. For the future, I shall regard 

 that tree with additional interest. 



If the views at the close of this article are cor- 

 rect, every one will see that they have a far wider 

 application than is here made of them. j. G. 



Marblehead, Mass. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 



Ornamental gardening is one of the fine arts. 

 It is classed with painting, and sculpture and archi- 

 tecture. It is justly reckoned with those arts, for 

 it is founded upon the same principles in the mind, 

 and calls into exercise the same powers. The love 

 of the beautiful, of fitness, of harmony in form, in 

 color, and proportion, are the basis of all the fine 

 arts. Ornamental gardening was formerly one of 

 the luxuries of princes and nobles. Poets and trav- 

 ellers tell us of the beautiful gardens of the east — 

 of the groves of spices, and the fields of roses — the 

 avenues of trees, and walks bordered with flowers, 

 the grottoes, and arbors, and water- foils, which 

 adorned them. Ornamented grounds were no less 

 valued than painting and statuary. Indeed, paint- 

 ing and sculpture and architecture were put in re- 

 quisition to ornament the garden. No palace was 

 completed, until the grounds were wrought into 

 forms of beauty, and covered with the beautiful 

 forms which spring from the bosom of the earth. 

 But ornamental gardens are no longer a luxury 

 confined to the great and the noble. The increase 

 of intelligence, and taste and wealth, have convert- 

 ed many things that once were luxuries into the 

 comforts and even necessaries of life. Every man 

 who cultivates even a small patch of ground, and 

 wko has a taste for beauty, can ornament his cul- 

 ture ; can mingle with those plants which are sweet 

 to t'lie taste, and which are designed to nourish the 

 body, such as are pleasant to the sight, and such as 

 shed an agreeable fragrance around laim. In Eu- 

 rope, oriamental gardens are laid out by artists, 

 and cultivated under their direction. An artist is 

 there as indispensable as an architect. Several gen- 

 tlemen in this country are devoting themselves to 

 the cultivation of the art of landscape gardening, 

 and are doing much to promote ornamental and 

 tasteful culture ia the vicinity of our large cities, and 

 much to improve the public grounds of the cities 

 ttiemseives, and thus to cultivate and gratify the 

 taste of the citizen?. 



Men of wealth, and those who have little knowl- 

 edge of cultivation, an$ little time to devote to it, 

 .«nd whe wish to create rapidly a world of beauty 

 around them, may employ the artist. But every 

 farmer chould be his own artist. Nature has im- 

 planted in every man, the loy^of the beautiful, and, 



every man should cultivate the taste which nature 

 has given him, and it will become to him a source 

 of pleasure and enjoyment. Every man cannot 

 paint, but every man can make a picture. The 

 farmer has not time, or patience, or the cultivated 

 taste necessary to success in painting. But the 

 farmer can make a beautiful garden, and what 

 more beautiful picture can anywhere be found, 

 than a well-arranged, well-cultivated garden ? The 

 cultivator can make a garden anywhere ; among the 

 rocks, upon the steep declivity, he can form a ter- 

 race ; by the side of the brook, around the pond, or 

 along the borders of the marsh, he can make beau- 

 tiful flowers spring up. He can plant flowering 

 shrubs, or climbing vines, or fruit-bearing trees. 

 He can form beds of rich vegetables, and borders 

 of roses, or pinks and verbenas. He can arrange 

 them in straight lines, or curved lines. He can 

 form them into parallelograms or squares, into 

 circles or ellipses, into triangles or hexagons, into 

 any forms that may please his fancy, or best suit 

 the nature of the ground. He may so arrange the 

 vegetable forms that spring from the soil, and which 

 are beautiful in themselves, and so combine their 

 shade and hues, as to increase and brighten the 

 beauty of the whole. And he can set the picture 

 in a beautiful frame. He can surround his garden 

 with trees — evergreens, forest trees and fruit trees, 

 so arranged as to give shade to those plants that 

 require it, and to protect all from the cold winds. 

 By doing a little at a time, by adding one improve- 

 ment after another, and one beauty after another, 

 every farmer may, in a few years, create a beauti- 

 ful scene around him that will amply reward all 

 his pains. 



A garden thus formed by degrees, is much better 

 than one ])roduced at once, and by a large outlay 

 of labor and money. The pleasure of creating it is 

 prolonged, and the expenditure being but little at 

 a time, is not felt, and in this way, new flowers, and 

 vegetables and fruits are added from time, that 

 j-ield new pleasure, and add new beauty to it. A 

 beautiful garden is a source of pleasure to the fam- 

 ily. The wife and children can here indulge their 

 taste, and study the beautiful forms and wonderful 

 instincts of nature. It is one of the most fruitful 

 sources of instruction. The farmer can here bring 

 his children around him, and speak to them of the 

 wisdom, and skill and benevolence of the Creator. 

 He can dissect flowers, and plants and seeds, and 

 show their curious structure, and how wonderfully 

 nature has provided for their preservation. 



This is that one of the fine arts which the farmer 

 can cultivate. It is the one that is suited to his 

 condition and circumstances, and by the cultivation 

 of it, he can gratify the love of beauty that nature 

 has given him ; and while he is gratifjing this love, 

 he is improving his intellect and his heart. The 

 mere allusion to this part of the subject will sug- 

 gest a multitude of pleasant thoughts to the mind. 



The cultivation of a garden is a source of recre- 

 ation to the farmer. His strength and time are se- 

 verely taxed in cultivating the staple products of 

 the field. Like all men, he needs relaxation and 

 recreation. Where can he find it so well as in his 

 garden ? It \\ill make him fond of his home. It 

 will keep him from temptation. Instead of seek- 

 ing pleasure in the store and the tavern, he will 

 find it in his home. How many a young farmer, 

 had he early commenced the cultivation of a beau- 

 tiful garden, would have been saved fiiom ruin. 



