A SEMI- TROPIC GARDEN. 



405 



As pointed out by Mr. Applegate, the modern experi- 

 ment station is suggested by Jeiferson in a letter 

 to W. Dayton : He writes : " In an infant country, as 

 ours is, experiments are important. To find out these 

 (the kinds of plants, etc., that could be successfully 

 grown) will require abundance of unsuccessful experi- 

 ments. But if in a multitude of these, we make one 

 useful acquisition, it repays our trouble. Perhaps it is 

 the peculiar duty of associated bodies to undertake these 

 experiments. " 



During his eight years as President from March 4 

 1801 to March 4 i8og, Jefferson took advantage of every 

 opportunity to advance the cause of horticulture and 

 agriculture. American Ministers and Consuls in other 

 parts of the world were instructed to note all advances 

 in these vocations and to send "specimens of seeds, 

 plants, etc.," for experimentation in the varied soils and 

 climates of this country. Explorers were given minute 

 directions to seek " unknown forms in woods, fields and 

 mountain tops ; to give written descriptions and draw- 

 ings, and where possible, specimens of everything new 

 and strange. " 



After the close of his second presidential term, Jeffer- 

 son returned with ardor to Monticello to re-engage, he 

 hoped permanently in his favorite rural pursuits. To 

 Adams he wrote, "I return to farming with an ardor 

 I scarcely knew in my youth, and which has got the 

 better entirely of my love of study." Writing to David 

 Williams he speaks of agriculture as " a science of the 

 very first order, counting among its handmaids the most 

 respectable sciences, chemistry, botany, etc. * * * 

 Young men closing their academical education with this 



as the crown of all other sciences, fascinated with its 

 solid charms, would return to the farms of their fathers 

 and replenish and invigorate the noble calling." 



In 1811, at the age of 61, he wrote to Mr. Peale : " I 

 have often thought that if heaven had given me the 

 choice of my position and calling, it should have been 

 on a rich spot of earth, well watered, and near a good 

 market for the productions of the garden. No occupa- 

 tion is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, 

 and no culture comparable to that of the garden. Such 

 a variety of subjects, some one always coming to per- 

 fection, the failure of one thing repaired by the success 

 of another, and instead of one harvest a continuous one 

 through the year. But though an old man, I am a young 

 gardener. " 



The character of Jefferson as an agriculturist is ex- 

 cellently epitomized by Morse. " Jefferson was always 

 an enthusiast in agriculture, " he writes. "All his busy 

 official life at home and abroad, he appeared ceaselessly 

 to have one eye on the soil and one ear open to its cul- 

 tivators ; he is always comparing, varying methods re- 

 sult, and sending new seeds hither and thither, making 

 suggestions, trying experiments." 



Rich in fame for scholarship, diplomacy and states- 

 manship, a patriot sure of a lasting place in the esteem 

 and hearts of his countrymen, who had twice raised him 

 to the loftiest honors within their gift, Jefferson had 

 tested all sources of pleasure, yet he had declared, and his 

 family has corroborated him, that his " chiefest delights 

 were in his garden, his flowers, his fields and among his 

 trees." Are not the same sources of delights open to 

 every reader of The American Garden ? 



A SEMI-TROPIC GARDEN. 



home. 



WANT to tell of a garden, not 



I\p^-. one of those which are filled 

 with costly plants such as only a 

 millionaire can possess, but a 

 sweet little home garden that 

 any man who labors for his daily 

 bread may have, if he owns a 

 A bit of grassy lawn is edged with calla 

 lilies, and the path that divides it is bordered with 

 bright pink daisies. In the center of one side of 

 the lawn is a palm with its foreign-looking, fan- 

 shaped leaves, and on each side a Mermet and a 

 Bon Silene "blush and bloom''; on the other side 

 it is shaded by a magnolia tree, and in a retired 

 corner some English violets lift their fragrant little 

 heads. 



The house, standing well back from the street, is built 

 with an airy grace that bespeaks no fears of the twisting 

 cyclone or the penetrating blizzard, and though but a 

 humble cottage, it is adorned with nature's own work- 

 manship. Around the porch are twined the brilliant 



Marie Henriette, and the fragrant La Marque, the white 

 and the red lovingly rustling side by side against the 

 green wall of their leaves. The Beauty of Glazenwood, 

 with its variegated flowers, makes a bright lattice for a 

 window, while clambering up the corners and drooping 

 from the eaves, are the honeysuckle and jessamine ; and 

 an English ivy forms a green screen for a south porch, 

 where the house cat lies in drowsy contentment all the 

 long summer days, enjoying its grateful shade. Within 

 the garden a La Superba rose has been pruned until it 

 has grown into a tree, so tall that its topmost buds can 

 not be reached from the ground. Near by, a La France 

 is dropping its pink petals on every side. A trellis sup- 

 ports a Marechal Niel, whose half opened buds reveal 

 their hearts of gold. The Pearl of the Garden has 

 caught a faint blush by its close proximity to the Black 

 Prince, while the Duchess of Brabant half conceals her 

 beautiful tints with a modest grace not often found in 

 titled dames. Some orange trees are scattered here and 

 there, and would drive an artist to despair ; for, though 

 his fruitful brush might reproduce their glossy leaves 

 and wax-like blossoms, yet who could paint their rich 

 perfume ? Geraniums of every variety and color are 



