6Q Adva7itages of uniting Horticulture 



employment of their faculties, cut off from the influences which 

 would humanise and civilise them, actually driven into tempta- 

 tion, forced into vicious courses, then lectured on the exceeding 

 depravity of their nature, and punished for the commission of 

 crimes which, under other circumstances, they might have ab- 

 horred. It is said that many clergymen are shareholders in the 

 garden, and that it is owing to their votes or influence that it is 

 closed on Sunday. I most sincerely hope that the reverend 

 gentlemen will be so severely mulcted by their own foolish po- 

 licy, worthy only of the dark ages or of a savage country, that 

 in the course of time more enlightened notions may penetrate 

 their crania through the medium of their pockets. 



I am straying however, though not very widely, from the 

 more immediate object of this letter, which was to suggest, with 

 all due deference to your superior knowledge and experience, 

 an addition to the usual contents of a botanical garden. I am 

 inclined to think that, if hot-houses, and the fruit department in 

 general, formed a part of the plan, the garden would be much 

 more efficiently supported than those establishments usually 

 are. In a manufacturing town, there is only a small minority 

 who can be brought to perceive the use of any thing which does 

 not either help to put money into their pockets, or to procure 

 some palpable pleasure of the senses. That science (except 

 the department which invents spinning-jennies) or art should 

 be included in the category of the useful, utterly passes their 

 comprehension, for they have yet to learn that the use of all 

 created existences is to form, expand, and elevate the mind of 

 man. To such men, botany seems as useless as astrology, and 

 a collection of ferns or Orchidaceae as little to be prized as an 

 assortment of weeds. But it will be found to be far otherwise 

 with fruit ; there are few palates so obtuse as to be insensible to 

 the charms of the perfumed grape, or not to prize the melting 

 and the juicy peach. Many there are, therefore, who would 

 encourage the cultivation of fruit, who would think themselves 

 mad were they to give a single shilling towards a mere botanical 

 garden. I am not sure whether a compliance with my sugges- 

 tion might not even double the number of subscribers. 



I think, too, the plan would be useful for other reasons. If 

 both the forcing department and the management of the walls, 

 were, as they ought to be, scientifically attended to, they would 

 form at once a school for the young men employed on the pre- 

 mises *, and a model which all gardeners in the neighbourhood 

 might advantageously and with confidence consult. Secondly, 

 an opportunity would be afforded of studying the varieties of 



* By the way, might not a horticultural school be advantageously appended, 

 by taking, on the payment of a premium, other young men besides those 

 absolutely necessary to keep the grounds in order ? 



