70 
THE LADIES’ MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
remembered every plant has its name, and he would have known it; he 
would have watched it assuming different characters and clothed in its 
various garbs ; and it would have embued his mind with interesting asso¬ 
ciations and numberless pleasing incidents. What thousands of moral 
lessons he would have been taught amidst recreations which the cynic and 
the latitudinarian never dream of! Could I but disengage him from his 
calculations, and invite him from his couch by the fragrance of the haw¬ 
thorn or the rose, to admire the majesty of the oak, or the grandeur of the 
lofty pine, I should not despair of calling forth his latent feelings, even 
though his looks indicated that the freshness of youth was succeeded by 
maturer years, there would still be in store for him, in this department of 
natural history, endless sources of the highest order of intellectual gratifi¬ 
cation, endearing him to his family and his abode. 
Exeter, 
January, 1841. 
ON THE ADVANTAGES OF GARDENING AS A MEANS OF PROCURING 
HEALTH. 
The following true story of the advantages of gardening as a means of 
procuring health, is sent for publication in the hope it may be of use to 
others ; and the person alluded to is only withheld by family reasons from 
giving his name in full. 
Mr. W. had, for many years, been labouring under disease, without 
exactly knowing the nature of his complaint, or being able to find any 
remedy for it. As he suffered greatly from indigestion and depression of 
spirits, he was advised to apply to Abernethy, and he took that celebrated 
person’s “ blue pill,” and read through his “ book,” without deriving the 
slightest benefit from either. Still his nights continued sleepless, and 
attended with so much pain, that he was glad of any excuse to keep him 
out of bed ; and his nervous system was so deranged, that, to use his own 
expression, “ it would have been a relief if any one had shot him through 
the head.” Weary of his life, and glad to relinquish his profession, he set 
out for London, thinking of nothing but of dying there. In the coach he 
happened to meet with a lady, to whom he mentioned his case ; she entered 
with much feeling into his situation, and, having heard all his symptoms, 
at last said, “ Did you ever try gardening ? ” “ No,” said he, “ I never 
have ; though I have seen and admired many beautiful gardens, and have 
always found gardeners a most intelligent set of men, it has never come 
into my head to enter into their pursuits; nor, indeed, do I understand 
