KEFORTS. 11 



But, it is not every man that can plan and cultivate even a 

 garden with real success and skill. It seems as if nature had de- 

 signed some men for ihe culture of her works, and that Ave have 

 born-gardeners-, as well as born-poets. One is as worthy of ap- 

 probation as the other, if we would have the resources of artisti- 

 cal taste complete. The Poet gratifies us with the utterance of 

 an original idea of beauty ; while the Florist, who produces a 

 new kind of the same species, by re-planting and culture, satisfies 

 a refined taste, and surprises us by his experiment. 



"Epicurus first gave the idea of a Flower-garden attached to 

 dwellings, to the Athenians, about two hundred and sixty years 

 before the birth of Christ. Plautas assigned the custody of gar- 

 dens to Venus ; and Pliny observed that the labors of the garden 

 formed one of the occupations of females in his time ; and that it 

 was a common observation in those days, when a garden was out 

 of order, and not well-kept, that the mistress was a bad house- 

 wife." But iiccording to our own observation, of the interest man- 

 ifested by the two sexes, in the keeping u^ of a good garden at 

 the present day, we believe that Pliny's opinion could be easily 

 refuted. It is too often the case among our best Farmers, that 

 theT/ neglect their gardens ; while the overtaxed house-wife strug- 

 gles to have it well-tended, and feels the want of its products to 

 make up relishable dishes for her table. . 



Horticultural pursuits were deemed sc honorable amongst the- 

 Eomans, that many of their distinguished families derived their 

 surnames from some sjDecies of fruit or vegetable, which they 

 were celebrated for cultivating. 



If our ladies, who cultivate flowers at the present day do nolj 

 succeed in handing down surnames to future generations, they 

 may, if they will, have their tastes improved, — their ideas of true^ 

 beauty enlarged, yea, even their teynpers improved, by mingling 

 much with the soft-hued, fragrant pansies, the pleasure-giving 

 mignonette, the waxen, modest lilly, and the clumpy Pinks, 



