36 HORTICULTURE. 



a day full of exciting events. Spring comes back again to us like a 

 positively new miracle ! To watch all these black and leafless trees 

 suddenly become draped with green again, to see the ice-bound and 

 snow-clad earth, now so dead and cold, absolutely bud and grow 

 warm with new life, that, certainly, is a joy which never animates 

 the soul of our fellow-beings of the equator. 



"But the winter, the long winter without verdure without 

 foliage without flowers all so bleak and barren." Softly, warm 

 weather friend, open this little glazed door, out of the parlor, even 

 now, while the icicles hang from the eaves, and what do you see ? 

 Truly a cheering and enlivening prospect, we think ; a little minia- 

 ture tropical scene, separated from the outer frost-world only by a 

 few panes of glass, and yet as gay and blooming as the valley of 

 Cashmere in June. What can be purer than these pure, spotless 

 double white, what richer than these rich, parti-colored Camel- 

 lias ? What more delicate than these Heaths, with their little fairy- 

 like bells ? What more fresh and airy than these Azaleas ? What 

 more delicious than these Daphnes, and Neapolitan Violets ? Why, 

 one can spend an hour here, every day, in studying these curious 

 and beautiful strangers belles of other climes, that turn winter into 

 summer, to repay us for a little warmth and shelter. Is there not 

 something exciting and gratifying in this little spectacle of our tri- 

 umph of art over nature ? this holding out a little garden of the 

 most delicate plants in the very face of winter, stern as he is, and 

 bidding him defiance to his teeth ? Truly yes ; and therefore, to one 

 who has enough of vegetable sympathy in his nature to love flowers 

 with all his or her heart to love them enough to watch over them, 

 to care for all their wants, and to feel an absolute thrill of joy as 

 the first delicate bit of color mounts into the cheek of every blushing- 

 bud as it is about to burst open, to such of our readers, we say, a 

 GREEN-HOUSE is a great comfort and consolation ! 



There are many of our readers who enjoy the luxury of green- 

 houses, hot-houses, and conservatories, large, beautifully construct- 

 ed, heated with hot water pipes, paved with marble, and filled with 

 every rare and beautiful exotic worth having, from the birdlike air 

 plants of Guiana to the jewel-like Fuchsias of Mexico. They have 

 taste, and much " money in their purses." They want no advice 



