The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1860-03-29
The Garden.

agricultural life written in poetry. In
it the farmer and his family set the
great industries of the pillow, spade and
hoe in rhyme. Every flower or fruit
bearing tree is green syllable after
the graceful type and curve of Eden.
Every bed of flowers is an acrostic TO
Nature, written in the illustrated CAPT
tails of her own alphabet. Every bed
of beets, celery or savory roots or bulbs,
is a page of blank verse, full of the
6ellss-letters of agriculture. The farm
err may be seen IN his garden. 1t con-
tains the synopsis of his character in
letters that may be read across the
road. The barometer hung by his door
will indicate certain facts about the
weather. But the garden, lying on the
sunny side of the house, will mark,
with greater precision, the degree of
mind and hcart-culture which he has
reached. 1t will embody and reflect
his tastes, the bent and bias of his per
ceptions of grace and beauty. In it
he holds up the mirror of his inner life
to all who pass; and, with an obser-
want eye, they may see all the features
Of his intellectual being in it. In that
choice rood of earth he records his
progress i'm mental cultivation and pro-
fessional experience. In it he marks,
by some intelligent sign, his scientific
and successful economies in the corn
field. In it you may see the germs OF
his reading, and can almost tell the
number and nature Of bis books. In
it he will reproduce the seed thoughts
he has culled from the printed pages OF
his library. In it he will post an an
swer to the question whether he has
any taste for reading atall. Many anon
inal farmers honse has been passed BY
the book agent without call, because
he saw blunt gruff negative to that
question in the garden or yard. We
once asked one of the profession what
outward marks or surroundings were
most sure to indicate market for his
books or periodicals. He said that he
always looked at his garden and door
yard. If he saw them embellished
with flowers and shrubbery, and dis
playing other signs Of taste and refine
ment, he always knocked at the doc,
with confidence, feeling sure that those
within would appreciate and patronizt
his literature.
Amature gardens, or those compris
ing all. ones landed estate, do not NEAR
much. Such garden may be, and i,
likely to be, exceedingly beautiful witt
the varied features Of genius, taste and
artistic industry. But it is like rec
morocco book containing nothing bn
preface. But the farmers garden i
merely the introduction to large vol
ume, of which every acre is a page
. bearing the finger marks of his charac
ter. Viewed in this light, the gardens
of New England are full of hopefn
and instructive reading to those VIII,
consult their chronicles. They show
what science, taste and successful in
dtlssry have been brought to bear upon
agriculture. They mark the degree o
mental culture and refinement to whicl
the farmers of the country have at
tanned.
Titus there is no competition or mu
tual independence between horticulture
and agriculture. As we have observed
the first is the Introduction, the Other
the body Of the book and both are
the production Of the same author
The seed thoughts sown in the one vii
gcrminate in the other. The science
and taste applied TO the rood will spread
over the acre. Relatively, the farm
will keep pace with the garden. Th'
same genius and skillfiul labor W III mari
the cultivation of both; in the latter
IN concentrated-in the first, in a
more expanded form. What the ~nur
sery is to the orchard, should be the
garden to the farm, IN the quality 81
skiIlfuI and tasteful indnstry.-Eziha
RxvriH.