his unyielding Roman virtue not in the senate, or the gay, dissipated city, but at the plow. The very air of the luxuriant grove, and the decorated garden is favorable to the cultivation of virtue. It brightens the eye and unseals and invigorates all the senses, and prepares them to drink in the perfumes of shrubs and flowers, and the harmonious strains which float from the great orchestra of nature. Indeed there is health, and gladness and devotion in the sweet, bracing, rural air. It imparts keenness to the perceptions, and thus intensifies the soul's appreciation of the works and wonders of creative love. In this respect the horticulturist is surrounded by far more propitious moral influences, than the merchant in the crowded mart. The former has one of the great volumes of Divine Revelation open before him continually. He sees the wisdom of Deity, in the curious structure of every plant-he sees the exquisite taste of the infinite Artist in the more than velvet texture of the blooming cactus, in the glittering gold that tips the insects wing, and in the inimitable penciling which decks the garden with all the brilliant coloring of the rainbow; and in the wise adaptation of nature, in all her varieties to minister to human happiness, he beholds the clearest evidence of Divine goodness. Here is an easy ascent from nature's great gallery of the fine arts, up to the glorious mind who spoke all nature into being. But the anxious tradesman, in the midst of the noise, the ceaseless occupancy and confusion of the great emporiums of commerce, is removed from all these hallowed influences of rural nature. She is a sealed volume to him, almost as completely, as God's inspired Revelation is to the incurable skeptic. He sees none of her beauties, he catches none of her delightful melodies, he feels none of her inspiration, and his heart is refined and exalted by none of her beautiful emblems which point upward "to those everlasting gardens, where angels sing, and seraphs are the wardens." The history of the world has shown, that man's confinement in these great marts of business, and his seclusion from the rural charms of the country, have been unfavorable to his virtue. There have always been many noble exceptions to this statement. But the virtue of the masses, in our cities, will not bear comparison with the virtue of those rural districts where our intelligent and enterprising yeomanry are at home in the bosom of nature.

This great disparity between the influence of the city and the country, upon the advancement of public virtue, will be in a measure removed by

the progress of horticulture. Like Cimon who "established the Academus, and presented it to his fellow citizens for a public garden," the wealthy and public spirited citizens of this country are surrounding our older cities with their magnificent mansions and beautiful gardens. These have their influence upon the taste and refinement of the masses. Every mechanic and child who looks upon their luxuriant foliage and breathes their morning and evening fragrance will receive a moral benefit. The celebrated "Boston Common" and "New Haven Green" have not only improved the health but the moral nature of thousands who annually wander through their spacious walks, or repose under the shade of their ancient elms.

Such, we believe, are the benign moral tendencies of horticulture. And whoever plants a shade tree, or trains a graceful vine round the column. of his verandah, or cultivates a fragrant flower beneath his window, is a public benefactor. He is improving the moral sensibilities of his children, and stimulating his friends and neighbors to emulate his noble example. It is in this way, that a taste, both for the useful and ornamental in nature, is to be cultivated, till it becomes an universal passion. By a process like this, commencing in all our villages and cities, an interest in scientific and experimental gardening is to become general, until the environs of the city, and the pleasure grounds of the farmer, and the magnificent country seat of the millionaire, shall be embellished with all that is rare and beautiful in nature, and graceful in art.

Our country is pre-eminently adapted to carry practical horticulture forward to its highest degree of perfection. Nature has been exceedingly bountiful to us, in the bestowment of every thing that is beautiful and magnificent in her productions. An eloquent writer observes that "many of the most useful and magnificent acquisitions of the groves, fields, gardens and conservatories of Europe are natives of the western hemisphere. The indigenous forest trees, ornamental shrubs, flowers, fruits, and edible vegetables of North America, are remarkable for their variety, size, splendor or value. Extending from the pole to the tropics, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific; North America embraces every clime, and every variety of soil, teeming with innumerable specimens of the vegetable kingdom. With such advantages, most of which are included within the United States, it is to be expected that the citizens will

be as distinguished for their advancement in rural economy as in civil and religious freedom." All that is necessary, to ornament the whole face of our luxuriant country with those rural embellishments "which Shenstone might have envied," is to diffuse a taste for useful and fancy gardening among our enterprizing population. This is to be accomplished by encouraging horticultural associations, and public exhibitions, by bestowing liberal patronage upon the proprietors of our public gardens and nurseries, and by the employment of intelligent and experienced practical superintendents. Every citizen may add his influence to the improvement of the public taste in this regard. If the first seed that was sown was the first step taken in the progress of civilization, every plant that is stimulated into a luxuriant bloom is the harbinger of a higher form of moral development. And when, in the progress of horticultural science, the fertile prairies and openings of the Great West are raised to a high degree of artistic rural embellishment, the genius of Michael Angelo will be transferred from its Italian home to our shores, to reproduce its wonders of art amid the enchanting scenery of the New World. For when American taste and genius shall have converted our luxuriant fields and rural districts into a vast magnificent garden, in the number and finished attainments of our artists, we may not be second to Greece when the poetry of her Euripides attracted thousands to the theatre, and the genius of her "Phidias was displayed in rearing the Parthenon, and sculpturing the statues of the gods." But if we shall never attain to such a splendid triumph of art, one thing is certain-if our citizens devote such attention to useful and ornamental horticulture as the taste and refinement of society require, they may raise our country to such a state of rural loveliness as will excel the fabled gardens of the Hesperides with their golden fruit. Here is a great field opened before us. If it is cultivated and embellished, according to the abundant facilities at our command, its influence will endure to purify the intellectual taste and shape the moral character of future generations.

FLORICULTURE.

BY MRS. LAURA A. SMITH, PLYMOUTH, WIS.

In complying with your request, to prepare an article upon 'Floriculture,' I shall trust that the desire for awakening a love for the culture of flowers, in the minds of my fair states-woman, will be a sufficient apology for undertaking a task to which I can bring neither the knowledge nor the experience requisite.

An elaborate essay I cannot write, but if the results of my simple experience, will have the effect to plant one solitary garden, "where garden there was none," I shall be entirely satisfied. I trust also that the few directions I shall offer, may induce some who may have been discouraged by the elaborate rules of florists, to consider a fair and beautiful flower garden not incompatible with the means of the humblest rural home within our State.

It is very pleasant to remark that, in this utilitarian and money-making age, there are those, even in our infant State, who can both appreciate and delight in the employments of rural taste. There are few, indeed, of so unrefined a nature, but will acknowledge the pleasant influences of a love for the culture of flowers, its power of increasing the pleasures of home, and the improvement of heart and taste, which an intimate association with God's beautiful creations in the floral world, must necessarily produce,

"Your voiceless lips, oh flowers! are living preachers

Each cup a pulpit, and each leaf a book,

Supplying to my fancy numerous teachers,
From lowliest nook."

To those valuable improvements, in the science of agriculture, which more materially effect the wealth of our State, all praise is due; but as even these are but as aids to our comfort and happiness, we must not forget while ministering to our physical necessities, to provide those gratifications of a taste for the beautiful, which is inherent in us all. To do this we should combine the useful with the beautiful in our rural homes, remembering always that He who implanted in us a desire for

forms and colors of beauty, has always placed the means of its gratificacation within reach of the humblest.

In the culture of flowers none should more properly lead the way than woman; it seems indeed one of the duties of her sphere; she should remember that while yet a sinless inmate of the first "home" on earth, and that spot a garden, she tempted man to his destruction; and that in making her home now attractive "with the sweet incense of flowers"and there are few who can resist such attractions-she will render

the paths of virtue and truth more pleasant to her husband, and will create a pleasant spot, wherein memory will ever linger in the hearts of her children.

Nothing more beautifully indicates the purifying influence of a love for flowers, than the appreciation which innocent children always bestow upon them; and our Saviour, while he blessed little children, did not fail to bid us heed their favorites "the lilies of the field." It would indeed be well for those who toil and labor in the world's dusty warfare, to follow the example of these "little ones" and find more of their happiness,

Where still the love of childhood lies

Where its first treasures lay,

Among the greenwood's countless leaves,

And lovely flowers of May.

In the intervals of labor and business, nothing can be more invigorating and cheering than the pleasures of a garden. Its flowers and fruits naturally lead our minds to that infinite Creator who has given us so much to enjoy, even in this world—such reflections must tend to nought but good in the heart of man; they would insensibly lead him, perhaps, to a recognition of the particular care of Providence, in His most humble creations, and thus he could but become an humbler and a better man♣ more genial friend, and a more tender parent.

Wherever we see a man who loves to plant and foster flowers, we instinctively commend him in our hearts as a man of true refinement; and when we are so unfortunate as to meet with a woman who does not delight in them, we have good reason to suspect a lack of all that constitutes the true beauty of the feminine character. Let our wives and daughters, then, lead the way, and in a path so pleasant our husbands