46 - ^ , HORTICULTURE. 



readers say, " we do." "We have earefuUy studied the matter, until 

 it has become a fact past all contradiction. They may love to 

 "potter" a little. Three or four times in the spring th^y take a 

 fanfey to examine the color of the soil a few inches below the sur- 

 face ; they sow some China Asters, and plant a ieyr Dahlias, and it 

 is all over. Love flowers, with all their hearts, they certainly do. 

 Few things are more enchanting to them than a fine garden ;. and 

 bouquets <p thdr centre tables are positive necessities, with every 

 lady, from Maine to the Rio Grande,- 



Now,t,we certainly have all 'the love of nature of our English 

 forefath6rs.\ We love the country^ and % large .part of the mil- 

 lions, earned mesry year by our enterprise, is spent in creating and 

 embellishing country homes. But,ion the contrary, our wives and 

 daughters oiily love gardens as the French love them— for the 

 results. They love to wal]£,through them ; they enjoy Ae beauty 

 and perfume ,of their products, but only as amateurs. , They know 

 no more, of that intease enjoyment of ^er who plans, creates, and 

 daily watches the grpwth-of those gardens or flowersj^-no more of 

 that absolute, living enjoyment, which the English have in out-of- 

 door pursuits, than a mere ainateur, who goes through a fine gait, 

 Jery of pictures, knows of the intensified emotions which the painters 

 of those piotu^s experieneed in their souls, when they gazed on the 

 gradual growdi and perfected splendor' of their finest master-pieces. 



As it is plain,, froin our love of the country, that we are not French 

 at heart, this manifestation ^at we complain of, must come from 

 our natural tendency to cdp^the social manners of the most. 



polished nation in the world.'wAnd it is indeed quite wonderful, 

 how, being scarcely in the least afiected by the morale, we still bor-. 

 row almost instinctively, and entirely without being aware of it, so 

 much from la, Belle France. That our dress, mode <^p life, and in- 

 tercourse, is largely tinged withs-French taste, every traveller noises. 

 But it goes farther. Even the plans of our houses become more and 

 more decidedly French. *We have had occasion, lately, to make 

 considerable explorations in the domestic architecture of France and 

 &gland, and we have noticed some striking national peculiarities. 

 One of these relates tp the connection of the prinfcipal apartments. 

 In a French house, the beau ideal is to have every thing ensuii^ ; 



