HINTS TO YOUNG GARDENERS ON MENTAL IMPROVEMENT. 
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distinctly understood, that no recorded observation of any kind can be of the 
slightest value unless accompanied by the influence and issue of the circumstances 
investigated. 
Connected with atmospherical phenomena, as being the means by which many 
of them are modified, and which, in turn, exercise a considerable reactive agency, 
there are a variety of compound matters termed soils, the diversified effect of which 
upon plants, is too powerful and evident to be passed over by the observant 
gardener. Whether they are only the medium of conveyance for aqueous and 
gaseous fluids, or whether, as is more probable, indeed, well authenticated, they 
impregnate those fluids with their own particular properties, to the sustenance or 
injury (according as they may be inimical or congenial) of the plants growing on 
them, their influence must be of the highest moment. On the first assumption, a 
knowledge of their capability of admitting the percolation of fluids, and in the 
second, besides this, an acquaintance with their chemical qualities, should be sought 
by those who would understand correctly how to employ them. Analyses of their 
constituent particles, though not so easily obtained, are much more satisfactory and 
conclusive than a mere examination of their general appearance and consistence, 
and every gardener should be in some measure competent to this operation. The 
adaptation of the different soils to particular plants, must, however, be the ultimate 
object of such observations. 
Ascending still higher in the scale of natural influence, there is a class of 
animated beings, which is included in the term insects, whose ravages upon plants 
it is impossible for the most negligent gardener to disregard. And yet, how little 
is generally known of these interesting though destructive tribes ! It is our special 
privilege, that many departments of knowledge which the elegant and the erudite 
traverse as amateurs to acquire delight and wisdom from their investigation, are 
those with which our calling permits, nay requires us, to acquaint ourselves ; and 
of these, Entomology will be found certainly not the least remunerative, either in 
imparting real pleasures or professional advantages. When it is reflected that few 
are familiar with the transformations, seasons, and sustenance of the more 
inscrutable but not less inimical species, and that many frequently confound, or 
fail to trace and identify, through their various metamorphoses, and in their 
dissimilar guises, those which are larger and more conspicuous, it will be seen how 
needful it is to direct attention to this important science. 
Nor would inquiry into the habits of the feathered race prove superfluous. 
The indiscriminate slaughter and extermination of birds, is allowed by all rational 
and experienced men to be fatuous and impolitic. Most of them, if their numbers 
be discreetly regulated, are, notwithstanding temporary and apparently extensive 
depredation, the most efficient auxiliaries of the gardener in repressing the far more 
voracious hordes of vermin which would otherwise speedily defoliate all vegetation. 
Apart from an examination into the influence of natural circumstances on 
plants, there are peculiar variations in the method and manner of treating them 
