THE LADIES MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
69 
ON THE NATURAL LOVE OF FLOWERS. 
BY R. G. 
The love of flowers is so universally inherent in youth, that scarcely an 
exception can be found amongst children ; whether inhabiting the confines 
of our cities or exclusively nurtured in the provinces, all have a peculiar 
interest in the vegetation of the various seasons as they unfold their 
several charms. We have all of us in the spring of life felt ardently and 
with singular enchantment the vernal floral developments. Who in his 
suburban rambles can forget the ecstatic exclamation at the first discovered 
snowdrop, primrose, or violet ? the unalloyed delight in returning with 
this first tribute of approaching spring ? How the eyes would sparkle 
with a peculiar lustre, when, in the elasticity of youth, we cull from some 
seemingly inaccessible spot a rare and favourite gem to enrich our posy, 
which the gentle meadow could not afford ! And who is there, whose 
senses have not been regaled with the rich and refreshing perfume of such 
a nosegay ? Alas ! where are those senses and those feelings which con¬ 
duced so much to the bliss of by-gone days ? Has the lily lost its 
sweetness, the primrose its fragrance, and the violet its hue ? or, rather, is 
man, from entering on a field of enterprise and speculation, become so 
completely overwhelmed in cares for his personal aggrandisement and the 
accumulation of wealth, as to be estranged from the unmingled charms 
of a garden, with all its endless variety of pleasures and luxuries ? Can 
man be so dead and insensible to the beauties of nature ? so ungrateful to 
a beneficent Providence ? Is there no poetry in his composition ? no 
benevolence in his organization ? Has the love of gold rendered all 
his better feelings callous and obtuse ? And has he neither time nor 
inclination to revert to scenes where the avarice of maturer years found 
no sympathy ? Let us rather attribute the situation of such a one to 
the miseries of an age, out of which we are progressively escaping, when 
all such narrowed and sordid views must eventually fall a sacrifice to the 
inroads of science and the consequent enlargement of human happiness. 
The suburban residences which are already thickly studded around our 
cities, and are daily becoming more numerous, bid fair to invite other 
feelings and to cherish better hopes ; but, alas ! as we approach to examine 
these spots, our hearts are sickened at the portals. The common-place 
shrubs, numbering some half-dozen species, which economy has taught the 
builder to distribute, are alone to be found. Had the owner of such a 
residence retained but a tenth of his schoolboy enthusiasm for flowers, his 
collection of plants would at least have numbered thousands ; and be it 
