Flowers and Gardens 



and as certain to be injured by the 

 least untoward circumstance. It is often 

 unable to stand in its own unassisted 

 strength, and needs all kinds of artificial 

 protection and support. And this is 

 because the healthy balance is destroyed, 

 because one part is cultivated out of pro- 

 portion to, and therefore to the disad- 

 vantage of, the rest. As compared with 

 wild plants, it is like some, sleek, fattened- 

 up domestic animal beside the wild or 

 well -worked creature with its sinewy 

 limbs, and scarce a particle of super- 

 abundant flesh. All that you see in the 

 latter is needed for activity or strength. 

 Now wild plants require no artificial 

 support, their fabric is justly proportioned, 

 and they can therefore stand without 

 finding their own weight burdensome. 

 When we, therefore, look at the blossom- 

 laden Fuchsia in a flower-show, which 

 requires a prop for every limb, however 

 we may admire the beauty of the flowers, 

 let us never forget how artificial such 

 treatment is, how altogether incompatible 

 with a well-balanced perfection of the 

 plant. What should we think of such 

 a system of training applied to human 

 beings, which gave large intellect and 

 a noble countenance at the expense of 



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