PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 649 



feet high, to escape the glare and heat of tlio surnmtv sun. Nor do we see 

 inucli charm in his artificial mound (in the middle of the twelve acre garden 

 proper), thirty feet high, for "some fine banqueting house, with some 

 cliiinnoys neatly cast, and without too much glass." His heath of six acres 

 ^ in the roar, which he would have "formed as much as may be to a natural 

 wildness," is more to our modern taste; and the only trouble with this por- 

 tion is, that instead of our having all the wild beauty by itself, and all the 

 regular beauty by itself, the two should be intermingled, and the broad 

 lawn should border on charming flower beds of various growths, and romantic 

 shrubbery in studied freedom; and art and nature should do their best to 

 help each other. 



The case with us, however, is that we are not to devise princely methods 

 of magnificence, but republican plans of economy; and the garden that we 

 have iu mind must needs be one that comes within the average means of 

 lovers of nature in America. Any man of moderate means may own a few- 

 acres, and treat it according to the most approved principles of economy 

 and taste. We who are not farmers, wish, of course, to do as much as we 

 can with our little domain, and expect, if possible, to unite the advantages 

 of park and orchard — flowers for the eye and vegetables for the table. We 

 wish to have the largest crop of market value and landscape beauty. Our 

 rule of utility' niay be summed up in a single sentence, and be said to be 

 that method of gardening which secures the most products of the best 

 quality suited to our needs through the year, and so produced as to draw 

 out, without exhausting, the various and alternate powers of the soil. To 

 carry out this rule, even in a kitchen garden of half an acre, will be no 

 small study and discipline to the shrewdest calculator and economist. 

 Books have been written on "Our Farm of Two Acres," "Four Acres," 

 and " Ten Acres." I shall be glad to see as good a book as those on " Our 

 Garden of One Acre," or "Half," or "Quarter of an Acre." I have so 

 humble a sense of my own attainments in thes economics of gardening 

 that I will not pretend to be overwise, but be more ready to remember the 

 constant comfort and health of our unfailing supply of fresh vegetables 

 through the season, than to school our readers in the art of money making 

 out of carrots and potatoes, strawberries and grapes. 



The economics of the beautiful I am more free to speak of, and am quite 

 sure that beauty is far nearer to us, if we will seek it, than is commonly 

 supposed. The great secret is to follow the lead of nature, and try not to 

 overlay nature by ambition, and not to fall into poor artifice in our search 

 for art. The idea of God in nature is obvious. He unites every difference 

 with unity, and always brings together a large array of various elements 

 around some central purpose. The great universe, our solar system, our 

 earth, or any large prospect on its surface, or, if we specify particular 

 objects, we may say that a tree, a bird, an animal, or above them all, a 

 human body, these manifest wonderful diversity of parts in unity of aim — 

 and the study of creation opens an inexhaustible school of beauty. The 

 nearer the garden comes to the variety and unity of nature, so much the 

 better for its completeness. There, as in nature, the lines of beauty and 

 utilitj- should be mingled; and while we should not be ashamed to plant 

 our esculents, and even our fruit trees in straight rows, we should study 



