EVERY WOMAJf HER OWN FLOWER GARDENER. 9 



becoming baked ; and let the air and moisture enter the earth, and 

 nourish the tender roots. 



That is my way of gardening. After the beds are made, the walks 

 prepared, no man's hand or foot enters the sacred precinct, excepting 

 to admire, and to receive the flowers. 



In the early spring time a half hour may suflSce to exhaust the little 

 strength one possesses, but before October comes, with its autumnal 

 glories, several hours can be passed in out-door work without much 

 sense of fatigue. 



All the delights of a garden are not comprised in gathering nosegays, 

 and arranging bouquets, vases or festal garlands; — there is great enjoy- 

 ment in watching the vegetating of the seeds; the developing of the 

 tiny leaves, the forming of the minute buds — and then comes at last — 



" The bright, consummate flower I" 



Floriculture has been called the gem of all cultures. Its influence 

 makes us more courteous, if not more intelligent ; and what can we 

 find in nature so emblematical of bloom, decay, and death ? 



It has been said that " as domestic floriculture and gardening has been 

 the inclination of beings, and the choice of philosophers, so it has been 

 the favorite of public and private men, a pleasure of the greatest, and 

 the care of the meanest: and indeed an employment and a possession, 

 for which no man is too high nor too low. Flowers are the relics of 

 Eden's bowers." 



And there is no pastime that can give as much pleasure, with so 

 small an expenditure. Gray, the poet, and also a skillful naturalist, 

 tells us that the enjoyment of life depends upon "having always some- 

 thing going forward;" and exclaims: "Happy are they who can create 

 a rose-tree, or erect a honeysuckle ! " 



It is indeed this very " having always something going forward " that 

 produces the enjoyment experienced by the amateur gardener; the 

 glory and fragrance of the flowers forming the crowning gratification. 

 There is a pride — a most pleasing pride — in culling a bouquet for a 

 friend, from flowers raised by one's own hand. 



The creation of a beautiful object is certainly " a great fact," of which 

 any of us may be justly and honestly proud. 



Few of us possess the talent to transfer and perpetuate on canvas, or in 

 marble, the glorious hues and forms of nature, but the lowest and 



