348 



THE PLEASLiRliS OF A GARDEN. 



Not he alone, reinaiksa celebrated uioniiist, is 

 to be esteemed a lieiiefactor to iiiiiiikind, who 

 makes a useful discovery ; but he also, who can 

 point out and recouuneiid au innocent pleasure, 

 friendly alike to nionils and to health. Of this kind 

 are our emotions arising from the observation of 

 nature ; and they are highly agreeable to every 

 taste uncorrupteil by vicious indulgence. 



Rural scenes, of alaiust every kir.d, are delight- 

 ful to the mind of man. The verdant plain, the 

 flowery mead, the meandering stream, the playful 

 land), the warbling of birds, are all capable of 

 exciting emotions gently agreeable. But the 

 misfortune is, that the greater number of us are 

 hurried on in the career of life, with too great 

 rapidity, to be able to give attention to that wbicli 

 solicits no passion. The darkest habitation in the 

 dirtiest street of the city, where money can be 

 earned, has greater charms, with many, than all 

 the freshness and luxuriance of an Italian land- 

 scape. Yet the patron of refined pleasure, the 

 elegant Epicurus, fixed the seat of his enjoyment 

 in a garden. He thought a tranquil spot, furnish- 

 ed with the uniteil sweets of art and nature, the 

 best adapted to delicate repose : and even the 

 severe philosophers of antiquity, were wont to 

 discourse in the shade of a spreading tree, in some 

 cultivated plantation. 



It is obvious, on intuition, that nature often in- 

 tended solely to please the eye in her vegetable 

 productions. She decorates the floweret that 

 springs beneath our feet, in all the perfection of 

 external beauty. She has clothed the garden 

 with a constant succession of various hues. Even 

 the leaves of the tree imdergo pleasing vicissi- 

 tudes. The fresh verdure they exhibit in the 

 Spring, the varioussbades they assume in Summer, 

 the yellow and russet tinge of Autunm, and the 

 nakedness of Winter, afford a constant pleasure 

 to a mind enamored with the i)icturesque. From 

 the snow-drop to the moss-rose, the flower-garden 

 displays an infinite variety of shape and color. 

 The taste of the florist has been ridiculed as tri- 

 fling ; yet surely without reason. Did nature bring 

 forth the tulip and the lily, the rose and the honey- 

 suckle, to be neglecled by the liaugbly ])relender 

 to superior reason? To omit a single social duty 

 for the cultivation of a polyanthus, were ridiculous, 

 as well as criminal ; but to pass by the beauties 

 lavished before us, without observing them, is no 

 less ingratitude than stupidity. A bad heart finds 

 little amusement but in a comnumication with the 

 active world, where scope is given for the indul- 

 gence of malignant passions : but an amiable dis- 

 position is commonly known by a taste for the 

 beauties of the animal and vegetable creation. 



Among the cnq)loyments suitable to old age, 

 Cicero has enumerated the care of a garden. 

 It requires no great exertion of mind or body : and 

 its satisfactions are of that kind which please 

 without agitation. Its lieneficial influence 

 health, is an additional reason for an attention to 

 it at an age when infirmities abound. In almost 

 every descrii)tion of the seats of the blessed, 

 ideas of a garden seems to have pre<lominate(l. 

 The word Paradise itself, is synonymous with 

 garden. The fields of Elysium, that sweet region 

 of pOesy, are adorned by the ancient writers with 

 all that imagination can conceive to be in this way 

 delightful. Poets have always been charmed with 

 the beauties of a garden. Some of the most 

 pleasing passages of Milton, arc those in which he 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEU, 



May 18, 18S1 



represents the happy pair engaged in cultivating 

 their blissful abode. Pope also was distinguished 

 for his love and taste for gardening ; according to 

 Warton, the enchanting art of modern gardening, 

 for which Great Britain is deservedly celebrated, 

 chiefly owes its origin and its improvements to the 

 two last named poets, Milton and Pope. Lucan 

 is represented by Juvenal as reposing in his gar- 

 den. Virgil's Georgics prove him to have been 

 ca[)tivated with rural scenes, though, to the sur- 

 prise of his readers, he has not assigned a book to 

 the subject of a garden. Shenstone made garden- 

 ing his study ; but with all his taste and fondness 

 for it, he was not happy in it. The captivating 

 scenes which he created at the Leasowes, afforded 

 him, it is said, little pleasure in the absence of spec- 

 tators. The truth is, he made the embellishment 

 of his grounds, which should.have been the amuse- 

 ment of his life, the business of it ; and involved 

 himself in such troubles, by the expenses it occasion- 

 ed, as necessarily excluded tranquil enjoyment. 



It is the lot of few to jiossess land so extensive 

 and well adapted as his, to constitute an ornamen- 

 tal farm. Still fewer are capable of supporting 

 the expense of preserving it in good condition. 

 But let not the rich suppose they have appropriated 

 to themselves the pleasures of a garden. The 

 possessor of an acre, aye, even of a few rods of 

 ground, may receive a real pleasure from observing 

 the progress of vegetation, even in a culinary plant. 

 A very limited tract, properly attended to, will 

 furnish ample and pleasing employment for an 

 individual during those hours not necessarily devo- 

 ted to the calls of business or of duty. The op- 

 erations of gi'afiing, of inoculating, and of trans- 

 planting, are curious experiments in natural phi- 

 losophy, which may be cairied on even in a garden 

 of contracted dimensions; and that they are pleas- 

 ing as well as curious, those can testify who re- 

 member what they have felt on seeing llieir at- 

 tempts succeed. ' Amusement reigns,' says Dr 

 Voung, ' man's great demand.' Happy were it, 

 if the amusement of managing a garden were 

 more generally relished. It would surely be 

 more conducive to health, and the preservation of 

 our faculties to extreme old age, were that time, 

 whi'ii is now devoted to indolence or to trifling 

 or vicious in-door amusements, or which is wasted 

 in bacchanalian festivity, spent in the open air, and 

 in active employment — in other words, in the 

 cultivation of a Garden. — Journal of Health. 



Fiom the New York Farmer. 



AN ECONOMICAL METHOD OF RAISING 

 EARLY POTATOES. 



In the month of February and the first part of 

 March, let the potatoes intended for family use be 

 pared somewhat deeper than usual. — Save the par- 

 ings by spreading them on the cellar floor, or any 

 other place where they will not freeze or dry up. 

 About the 20th of Marc'u prepare a hot or forcing 

 bed in the ordinary way with fresh stable manure. 

 Spread over the manure an inch or two of sand, 

 or lin-ht earth ; then lay your potato parings with 

 the skin up close to each other, so that the whole 

 forcing bed may be covered, and cover the parings 

 with light earth two inches deep. Water the bed 

 frequently, and protect it f™ni the frost by cover- 

 ing with mats or straw when necessary, and let it 

 be exposed to the sun and air in moderate weath- 

 er. When the plants are two or three inches high, 

 transplant them into rows or drills two and a half 

 feet apart, and ten inches from each other in the 



drill, and you will have potatoes earlier and of a 

 larger size than in any other way. The time of pre- 

 paring the hot bed and of setting out the plants 

 will vary according to the time when the last frosts 

 are expected, and according to the care taken to 

 protect the plants after they are set out. 



The writer of the above has made the experiment 

 three years in succession with uniformly pleasing 

 results. The potatoes where what are called in 

 Pennsylvania, Mercer or Neshanock; any other ear- 

 ly kind may answer as well. The same kind of 

 potatoes were planted at the time the parings 

 frere placed in the forcing bed, in the ordinary 

 way by cutting and whole, and those from the par- 

 ings were earlier and larger than those raised in 

 the common way. From experience he is satis- 

 fied that it is useless if not injurious to plant 

 more of the old potato than is sufficient to cause 

 the bud to germinate. 



The greater part of the potato usually planted 

 may thus be saved and used for the cattle. It is 

 nevertheless thought important to select the largest 

 and most perfectly formed potatoes for seed, be- 

 cause they will afford parings suitable for planting, 

 and will probably improve the stock, which will 

 degenerate if small and deformed ones are used 

 for seed. 



Princeton, (JV. /.) Feb. 1st, 1831. 



PLANTING GRAPE VINES. 



As the season lor planting out grape vines in this 

 climate has now arrived, a few directions for 

 those imaccustomod to the culture of the vine 

 may be useful. — Two methods are resorted to 

 for the commencement of vineyards: or fir cul- 

 tivating the most ajiproved kinds of grapes for 

 the table. The first is, by procining from the 

 nurseryman such as have already taken root, 

 and made one or more year's growth. When 

 such can be obtained, care should be taken that 

 the roots be not dried or frozen before they are 

 plained out, as either would be very injurious 

 to them. Grapes have very long roots therefore 

 much care should be taken in setting, that they 

 may be well laid in ; when they have large 

 bunches of fii:e hairy roots, they should either 

 be cut offer washed in, by pouring a sufficient 

 quantity of water into the hole after it is partly 

 filled. To reduce the soil to a thin puddle, when 

 by shaking the vine, the earth will be filled ill' 

 ainongst the roots ; they should then be left until 

 the water disappears, after which the hole may 

 he filled with good rich soil and trodden firmly, 

 about the pl.inls : unless this precaution is lake, 

 the fibrous roots being packed upon each other, 

 are liable to become mouldy and do the plant 

 material injury. The siiine effect is often pro« 

 <lnced by putting maiuire into the hole dug for 

 receiving the plant : this is a bad practice, and' 

 ought never to be allowed. After the vine has: 

 been [)lanted out, a little manure spread about it 

 will serve to keep tin; ground moist in dry weatlw 

 er, and will be found very beneficial. — Tbs 

 first year after planliiii.', a small stake should b* 

 driven down by each plant, to which the young 

 vine should be tied as it increases in length. CarO' 

 should also betaken to trim off all the sprouts 

 but one, or. two at most, from a vine of ordinary 

 size the fir.st year after settitig, and the tops of 

 those should be pinched off by the middle of 

 August to allow the wooil to ripen more perfectly 

 to enable it to withstand the first winter Th« 

 other method commonly practised, is to cultivate 



if.t 



