2 THE VILLA GARDENER. 



a grass-plot in his garden, lays a more certain foundation for enjoyment, 

 than he who builds a wall or lays down a gravel walk ; and, hence, the enjoy- 

 ment of a citizen whose recreation, at his suburban residence, consists in 

 working in his garden must be higher in the scale than that of the man who 

 amuses himself, in the plot round his house, with shooting at a mark or 

 playing at bowls. 



To dig, to hoe, and to rake, are not operations requiring much skill ; and 

 the amateur gardener will, perhaps, chiefly value them for their use in pre- 

 paring for crops, or in encouraging the growth of crops already coming for- 

 ward : but the operations of pruning and training trees, when well performed, 

 are not only interesting to the operator at the time, but the plants so pruned 

 or trained afford him pleasure every thne he sees them afterwards throughout 

 the season, till the period returns when they must be pruned and trained 

 again. The operation of striking plants from cuttings is performed in a 

 variety of ways, according to the nature of the plants ; and may truly be called 

 one of intense interest, both in its performance, and in the expectation of its 

 results. By the great majority of amateur gardeners, cuttings are made and 

 planted at random ; and their failure or success is, in consequence, a matter 

 of chance : but a very little scientific light thrown on the subject leads to rules 

 for operating, which will turn chance into certainty in almost every case that 

 can occur to ordinary practitioners ; and, consequently, will greatly enhance 

 the pleasure of performing the operation, from the consciousness that the 

 labour bestowed will not be thrown away. We need not here refer to the 

 operations of grafting, layering, or sowing seeds ; nor need we mention 

 innumerable other operations which require to be performed in the course of 

 the year, even in the very smallest garden ; but we must be allowed to notice 

 the watering of plants, which all persons can enjoy from the earliest infancy 

 upwards. What pleasure have not children in applying their little green 

 watering-pans to plants in pots, or pouring water in at the roots of favourite 

 flowers in borders ? And what can be more rational than the satisfaction 

 which the grown up amateur, or master of the house, enjoys, when he returns 

 from the city to his garden iii the summer evenings, and applies the syringe 

 to his wall trees, with refreshing enjoyment to himself and the plants, and to 

 the delight of his children, who may be watching his operations? What can 

 be more refreshing than, in a wai'm summer's evening, to hear, while sitting 

 in a cool parlour, with the windows open, or in a summer-house, the shower- 

 ing of water by the syringe upon the leaves of the vines or fig trees trained 

 under the adjoining veranda, or upon the orange trees and camellias, or other 

 exotic shrubs, planted in the conservatory connected with it? What more 

 delightful than to see the master or the mistress of a small garden or pleasure- 

 ground, with all the boys and girls, the maids, and, in short, all the strength 

 of the house, carrying pots and pails of water to different parts of the garden ; 

 and to see the refreshment produced to the soil and plants by the application 

 of the watering-pan and the syringe ? 



Even the search after insects is a great enjoyment in a garden ; and, in 

 fact, opens up an entirely new field of exertion and interest to those who have 

 not before made minute observations in this department of nature. Fifty 

 years ago, the subject of destroying insects was scarcely considered as belong- 

 ing to gardening ; and their eggs, Avhich now every young gardener recog- 

 nises, in winter glued in rings to the branches of his fruit trees, or in spring 



