IL] 



THE AMERICAN GARDENER. 



63 



scale, a hot-bed frame^ when done with, for raising 

 plants for the year, would be useful. The fram6 

 and lights might be placed upon hoards, and the 

 fruits, or cakes, put upon these boards. Being 

 shut in, neither rains nor dews could affect them. 

 They would be dried quicker, more effectually, and 

 with a tenth part of the trouble that attends the dry- 

 ing in the open air. 



121. Thus, then, I think, that there is use, even 

 in the vulgar sense of the word, as well as orna- 

 ment, in a green-house. But, I must confess, that 

 its value, in my eyes, consists in its moral effects. 

 It is a source of pleasure to the Mistress of the 

 mansion ; to her, who has so strong a claim to at- 

 tention and indulgence. I will not praise pursuits 

 like these, with Lord Bacon, because, " God Al- 

 mighty first planted a garden;'''' nor with Cowley, 

 because " a garden is like Heaven nor with Ad- 

 dison, because a garden was the habitation of our 

 first parents before the fall ;" all which is rather 

 far-fetched, and puts one in mind of the grave dis- 

 pute between the Gardeners and Tailors, as to the 

 antiquity of their respective callings ; the former 

 contending that the planting of the garden took 

 place before the sewing of the fig-leaves together ; 

 and the latter contending, that there was no garden- 

 ing at all, till Adam was expelled and compelled to 

 work ; but, that the sewing was a real and bona fide 

 act of tailoring. This is vulgar work to be sure ; it 

 is grovelling ; but, who can blame such persons, 

 when they have Lord Bacon to furnish them with 

 a precedent ? 



122. I like, a great deal better than these writers, 

 Sir William, who so ardently and yet so ration- 

 ally diXiA unaffectedly ipTSi'ises the pursuits of garden- 

 ing, in which he delighted from his youth to his old 



