CONTAINING

PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE CULTIVATION OF ANNUAL,
BIENNIAL, AND PERENNIAL

FLOWERING PLANTS,

OF DIFFERENT CLASSES,

HERBACEOUS AND SHRUBBY,

BULBOUS, FIBROUS AND TUBEROUS ROOTED,

INCLUDING THE DOUBLE DAHLIA.

WITH A MONTHLY CALENDAR,

CONTAINING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF
GREENHOUSE PLANTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

THE WHOLE ADAPTED TO THE CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

384

GRICULTURE DENT,

[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year Eighteen Hundrod and Forty-seven by THOMAS Bridgeman, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New-York.]

W.

THERE is no subject, perhaps, that occupies the mind of man that is better calculated to afford substantial intellectual pleasure and gratification than the study of Nature, especially if we view it from the consideration, that as man is subservient to God, so are all instinctive beings, as well as the productions of the earth, subservient to, and designed for, the use of man.

Man being thus dignified, and endowed with understanding, reason, and moral freedom, is exalted far above all other creatures of the earth. How important, then, that he should maintain his station in society as becomes a rational and intelligent being, instead of sinking himself, as too many do, below the meanest of the mean, by spending his time in dissipation and vice.

It is a fact, which cannot be controverted, that the want of mental and physical employment often proves an incentive to vice, which will almost invariably produce misery; and as surely as the earth will bring forth noxious weeds, when left uncultivated, so surely will one vice beget another; which, if not eradicated, will multiply to an alarming extent, until its victims become a pest to society, and a disgrace to mankind.

Now as happiness is preferable to misery, virtue to vice, knowledge to ignorance, and order to confusion, how important it is that those who pretend to be rational beings should employ their leisure hours in a manner calculated to insure the greatest amount of that which is intrinsically valuable.

What subject can be better calculated to promote such an object than the subject of cultivation, when viewed in all its bearings? But as we are about treating of Flowers, I shall confine my ideas as closely as possible to the subject under consideration, trusting that while the hand is employed in cultivating the transient beauties of a garden, the attentive mind will feast daintily on the study of Nature, and in the

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end enrich itself with solid and lasting good. As an incitement to such study, the following reflections are submitted to the attentive perusal of the reader.

The creation of Nature is beautiful, enchantingly beautiful, universally diffused, and of endless variety; but it is the province of man to adorn a single spot, to collect about him the scattered and single beauties, and to see, and feel, and enjoy them. Nature is fruitful, inexhaustibly fruitful; but man must improve her fertility, guide it, and give it its most generally useful direction. Nature is full of life, but man is capable of diversifying, elevating, and ennobling this life; and he is amply rewarded for his labour.

It

Each

"Thine is a glorious volume, Nature!
Line, leaf, and page, is filled with living lore;
Wisdom more pure than sage could ever teach,
And all philosophy's divinest store;

Rich lessons rise where'er thy tracks are trod:
The book of Nature is the book of God."

may be truly said, that the whole field of Nature is laid open to the investigation and mental enjoyment of man, and that its study is the more accessible, because it is the easiest as well as the most delightful of all studies.

The student in literature must have his library, the natural philosopher and chemist, his apparatus, and the student of man, his annals and records; which are frequently so perplexing, that much of his time is spent in testing their correctness, and the results of his study are often far from satisfactory to himself. Whereas the tillage of the soil invigorates man's mental as well as bodily powers, and elicits more deep science, and more observation, and more general acquaintance with the laws of Nature, than any other pursuit of life.

Of all recreations, perhaps the cultivation of flowers may be considered as the most enchanting. It is not only congenial to health, but is calculated to attach man to his home; and he who delights in his home, and feels disposed to embellish it, will be likely to hasten to it when he has done his