NO. S. 



THE FARMEns' CABINET. 



125 



but then liia neighbors, winking to eacli 

 oilier, said, "he is more nice tlian wise." — 

 Such refined and delicate pursuits as the 

 study of botany were not proper tor those wiio 

 had frontiers to defend, institutions to build j 

 up and all the eh.'ment-i of society to fasfiion, 

 in forming a new nation. At least they 

 thought so. The revolutinnary war follow- 

 ing this labor; and Ceres, I'omona, and 

 Flora, were all more or less neglected ; 

 ploughshares and pruning-hooks were beat- 

 en mto swords and spears. The soldier, ; 

 however tasteful, on the track of blood, 

 could not slop to admire a wheat-field, nor 

 to examine the beauties of the flowers in his 

 path-way. Soon as tlie country began to 

 recover from the evils of the revolution, 

 a taste tor agriculture and gardening be- 

 came fashionable, in some measure. Wash- 

 ington set the example. He was a practi- 

 cal farmer, and an excellent gardener. He 

 brought trees, shrubs and flowers from every 

 clime, and spent every hour he could spare^ 

 from indispensable business, to enriching 

 his collections for tlie field and the green 

 house. This example was followed in every 

 State in the Union; in the city of Piiiladel- 

 phia with great success. Every garden in 

 that city for eight years, was under his eye. 

 Massachusetts was not behind any other 

 state in her attention to horticulture as well 

 as agriculture. 



The means of indulging in a luxury of 

 this nature were soon acquired after the 

 peace of 178:3; and the nucleus of all the 

 vast improvements of this day was tlien 

 established. The pleasure to be derived in 

 cultivating 'flowers can now be appreciated 

 by most persons, as their biography and 

 science have become household ornaments; 

 and the utility of the pursuit is a little 

 more remote, but easily traced when our 

 attention is turned to it. The cotton plant, 

 now the great staple article of the world, 

 as to growth and manufacture, was, as 

 oriental tales inform us — and they are al- 

 ways the truth, or the shadow of it — once 

 the garden plant of some Asiatic beauty, 

 who, to the delights of vision, as the pods of, 

 the plant opened with snow-blown loveli- 

 ness, with a natural curiosity and taste, ad- 

 ded that of touch. The soft and fibrous mass, 

 as her dainty fingers played upon it, seemed 

 to attenuate under the pressure — and at thai; 

 moment the thought of making a thread was 

 conceived, and the progress from the distatfj 

 to the loom, and from that to ornamental 

 dress, was rapid and astonishing. Taste 

 and fancy have more to do with improve- 

 ments and science, than we imagine. The i 

 culture and the manufacture of cotton havei 

 now become the support of more than ten ! 

 millions of the human race in Europe and I 



America, and of more than fifty millions in 

 Asia and Africa. 



Agriculture has received many advan- 

 tages from accident. Celery, now a conmion 

 dessert of every table, it is said, came into 

 the garden plants from the following circum- 

 stance: — An Italian nobleman, in a paroxysm 

 of passiun, slew his only brother; the churcii 

 condemned him tor three yearu to a monas- 

 tery, to prayer and penitence; — his fijod to 

 be of the weeds which grew within the en- 

 closures about his prison; celery, bleached 

 in the shade of the cloister, then became a 

 favorite food ; and when released from his 

 confinement, he transplanted the weed, then 

 hut little better than a night shade to Ms gar- 

 den — it was set in trenches to blench it, and 

 to make it crisp and tender for his palate. 

 He was a leader in fashionable lif(>, and his 

 example was imitated throughout Europe; 

 and celery became at first a garnishment for 

 the table, then a luxury, and now a necessary 

 for every palate. 



The dyes of all the looms of ancient and 

 modern times were borrowed from flowers. 

 The philosophers of the East saw that to 

 please the world they must follow nature. 

 " Mark the lily how it grows — Solomon in 

 all his glory was not arrayed like one of 

 these." says an inspired writer. The poets 

 of a later age, those great interpreters of na- 

 ture, have followed up the thought, and ex- 

 panded it with philosophical ingenuity. This 

 thought is scattered through every page of 

 their works, for they have adorned every 

 column of their imperishable temples with 

 these wreaths of nature. 



" Who can paint 

 Like nature? Can imagination boast, 

 Amid its gay creation, hues like these 1 

 Or can it mix them with that matchless skill, 

 And lose them in each other, as appears 

 In every bud that blows 1 



Among a prosperous people, there is al- 

 ways a surplus measure of time, which may 

 be used to their advantage if properly im- 

 proved ; and how can it be better filled up 

 than in such sweet and innocent pursuits? 



A love of distinction is an inate passion 

 of our souls ; the glories of war and of 

 elovqi'ence are fast declining, and yet the 

 love of distinction must be supplied from 

 other sources: Nature is ready, when prop- 

 erly interrogated, by her responsers, to fill 

 up the void created by this decline. That 

 which was once said in bitter but playful sar- 

 casm, will soon be acknowledged as a set- 

 tled truth : — " That he who makes two blades 

 of grass grow where only one grew before, 

 IS preferable to all the warriors and states- 

 men put together;" and in modern times 

 we shall find these occupations the more 

 imperishable monuments of fame. The low- 



