HOW TO POPULARIZE THE TASTE FOR PLANTING. 295 



The influence of commercial gardens on the neighborhood where 

 they are situated, is one of the best proofs of the growth of taste 

 that our people have no obtuseness of faculty, as to what is beauti- 

 ful, but only lack information and example to embellish with the 

 heartiest good will. Take Rochester, N. Y., for instance which, at 

 the present moment, has perhaps the largest and most active nurse- 

 ries in the Union. We are confident that the aggregate planting 

 of fruits and ornamental trees, within fifty miles of Rochester, during 

 the last ten years, has been twice as much as has taken place, in the 

 same time, in any three of the southern States. Philadelphia has 

 long been famous for her exotic gardens, and now even the little 

 yard plats of the city dwellings, are filled with roses, jasmines, 

 lagestroemias, and the like. Such facts as these plainly prove to us, 

 that only give our people a knowledge of the beauty of fine trees 

 and plants, and the method of cultivating them, and there is no 

 sluggishness or inaptitude on the subject in the public mind. 



In looking about for the readiest method of diffusing a know- 

 ledge of beautiful trees and plants, and thereby bettering our homes 

 and our country, several means suggest themselves, which are worthy 

 of attention. 



The first of these is, by what private individuals may do. 



There is scarcely a single fine private garden in the country, 

 which does not possess plants that are perhaps more or less coveted 

 or would at least be greatly prized by neighbors who do not pos- 

 sess, and perhaps cannot easily procure them. Many owners of such 

 places, cheerfully give away to their neighbors, any spare plants that 

 they may possess ; but the majority decline, for the most part, to 

 give away plants at all, because the indiscriminate practice subjects 

 them to numerous and troublesome demands upon both the time 

 and generosity of even the most liberally disposed. But every gen- 

 tleman who employs a gardener, could well afford to allow that gar- 

 dener to spend a couple of days in a season, in propagating some 

 one or two really valuable trees, shrubs, or plants, that would be a 

 decided acquisition to the gardens of his neighborhood. One or two 

 specimens of such tree or plant, thus raised in abundance, might be 

 distributed freely during the planting season, or during a given week 

 rf the same, to all who would engage to plant and take care of the 



