;8i 
GAUDENING FOR CHILDREN. 
upon llie affection wliich all children have for 
flowers, even from the cradle — for the young- 
est infant will stretch forth its little hand for a 
daisy — teaches the facts connected with gar- 
dening in language quite as simple, but by no 
means so silly, as older volumes teach the little 
reader that " old Mother Hubbard went to the 
cupboard," and forms a contrast worthy of the 
advanced age. Those children who have been 
accustomed to the St. Paul's Churchyard 
books of instruction, which taught them that 
" a cow jumped over the moon," and " a dish 
ran after a spoon," will find a great change, 
and, in all probability, much more delight, in 
the gardening propensities of " little Willy," 
the leading character in " Gardening for 
Children ;" and the idea of his awakening his 
tutor to the necessity of teaching him gar- 
dening, by sowing the caraway seeds out 
of a cake, is a good one. A child's notions 
are formed from objects around him in the 
same way that a man's are formed. They 
are always in advance, because they see cer- 
tain results arise from certain causes, though 
they may be often wrong, from the very reason 
that they are not taught to draw right con- 
clusions ; and it is h«re that we are all 
wrong. "We ought never to allow a child to 
remain in ignorance for want of satisfying his 
inquiring mind on all subjects that it is safe to 
teach : and we should watch the eye as well 
as listen to the tongue ; for nobody can avoid 
noticing the eagerness with which a child gazes 
upon anything he does not quite understand ; 
. yet, for the most part, children's books teem 
with all the absurdities of the worst nursery 
rhymes, many of which are as questionable, 
and some of which as unquestionable, as to 
their propriety or .iiopropriety, as they well 
can be. We have now before us an illustrated 
book detailing the adventures of " a little old 
woman," whom, to quote the author's words, 
" I have heard tell, 
And she went to market her eggs/or to sell." 
And in doggrel rhyme we are given the par- 
ticulars of her journey and adventures. 
Now, setting aside the vulgarity, and making 
every allowance for the fun, will anybody de- 
fend the getting-up of a shilling book, with 
bedaubed wood-cuts to illustrate such a sub- 
ject, for a child's book ? We think not. But 
let it not be supposed that this is an isolated 
case ; hundreds equally silly, and many quite 
as vulgar, have been sent forth among the 
childi-en of this country for the last half cen- 
tury. But, we may be told, we are writing of 
other books instead of the one we are pro- 
perly noticing ; we admit this, but we do not 
know how to do justice to a new style of litera- 
ture for children without exhibiting the faults 
of the old ; and we doubt much if our readers 
can so well appreciate the one if they are 
not reminded of the other. 
The little volume before us is edited by 
the Rev. C. A. Johns, author of " Botanical 
Rambles," "Forest Trees of Britain," and 
other popular works, who, as Little Willy's 
tutor, leads him from time to time through the 
garden, shows him all the operations, gives 
him a piece of ground, describes flowers, 
teaches him how to dig, hoe, rake, weed, and 
do everything necessary to produce his fa- 
vourite flowers in perfection, and reads a 
great moral lesson to " children of a larger 
growth." It is not only a little manual of 
gardening, written with great care, in language 
that a child can understand, but it shows how 
much can be done towards rendering a child 
useful at an early period. Her Majesty has 
long since provided the young Royal family 
with plots of garden, and garden implements ; 
and no higher authority is needed for the pro- 
priety of making the tillage of the ground part 
of the education of a child. It is as necessary 
as any other branch of learning, and to the 
million it is of more importance than any ; for 
it is a species of information which enables 
any one in an unknown region to make the 
earth find him in food. We cannot be sup- 
posed to underrate the reading, because that 
must be acquired before even this valuable 
little book can be made useful. Upon the 
whole, we hail the work as the precursor of a 
new style of literature for children. It is 
embellished with nearly sixty very superior 
wood engravings, representing implements 
used in gardening, and favourite flowers ; and 
it forms one of the best presents that can be 
made as a Christmas-box or a new-year's gift. 
The Rev. Mr. Johns has not forgotten first 
directions. It is a well-meant and well-done 
lesson of usefulness, which we should like to 
see in the hands of every child as soon as he 
could read ; and we are quite sure it is calcu- 
lated for a school-book, inasmuch as the in- 
structions are fit for all ages. To give an 
idea of the easy style in which the work is 
written, we make a few extracts, and at a 
future time we may return to it ; for Mr, 
Johns has closed the volume with a series of 
maxims, every one of which is a practical 
lesson in gardening. We will commence 
with a few lines from the preface : — 
"As the title, 'Gardening for Children,' 
might create an impression that this little 
book was written to amuse, rather than to in- 
struct, the Editor feels himself called upon to 
state that all the directions contained in it 
were furnished by an eminent practical gar- 
dener, and are the result of many years' ex- 
perience. They are, therefore, not merely 
adapted for the use of children, but will be 
