54 On the neglected State of Cottage Gardens. 



Nor feel, as he inhales the balmy air, 

 And views the world of loveliness that's there. 

 His genius and his taste grow more refined, 

 And fancy's vista open to his mind ? 



[The name of the author of the above lines is not known to your correspondent.] 



Gentlemen : 



In this free and happy country, where every man's per- 

 son and property are protected, why is the cottage garden 

 neglected ? I was in hopes, after your valuable Magazine 

 was commenced, an immediate impulse would be given to 

 all classes of citizens, to cultivate and improve, to the best 

 advantage, the small spots of ground connected with cot- 

 tages ; but another year has been suffered to roll on without 

 any change taking place. Wherever you take your walk, 

 you will see numbers of beautiful cottages, with miserable 

 appendages ; yes, so much so, that the small spots of ground 

 in front are so thickly covered with weeds, that you can 

 scarcely gain admittance, without wetting your feet in damp 

 weather ; whereas, if those spots of ground were cultivated 

 with economy, they might yield wholesome food, and a cool- 

 ing shade for the inmates, and, as your correspondent JwrnMS 

 observes, would give "additional value to property." It 

 likewise creates an attachment to home, and encourages 

 sober and industrious habits in all the members of a family. 

 It would likewise give them an opportunity to display their 

 taste and skill in floriculture. It is well known that there 

 are many tradesmen and manufacturers in Great Britain 

 that excel professional gardeners in growing florists' flowers, 

 such as the carnation pink, polyanthus, &c. ; and might not 

 men in the same sphere of life in this country, where prop- 

 erty is more equally distributed, not excel in the same flow- 

 ers, if they would make the trial .'* Allowing the trial to be 

 made, the next step to improvement is to establish a society 

 for competition, and let the productions for the year's 

 competition be made known to the members every last 

 meeting of the year. They should by all means guard 

 against giving their prizes in money : a piece of plate, 

 whatever the value may be, will be found to give a greater 

 stimulus to others to form themselves into societies for the 

 same purpose. It has likewise the tendency to keep alive 

 the same taste in the offspring, and perpetuate the memory 

 of the deceased parent ; and, in a very short time, you 

 would find societies for the same purpose established in eve- 

 ry village throughout the country. But I must remind you 

 of one great impediment to the general cultivation of cottage 

 gardens, which your correspondent Junius seems to have 

 overlooked, — this is, the long hours that the laborer has 

 3to work, which, you must allow, deprives him of one mo- 



