The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-02-16

Gu IN MS WOfkS nls admiration OF the
squash aud suggests the idea that the
various and graceful forms of this veget.
able might well serve as models in the
moulding Of many useful and ornamental
articles.
The herb bed may be made to vie with
the flower plot, when judiciously arrang.
cd. The high balm" with its gorgeous
scarlet and the lemon or low balm with
its charming blue b.ossoms-the sage,
with its peculiar green leaves and differ.
ent shades of howers-the sweet basil,
with its delicate white petals, the summer
savory, thyme, sweet marjoram, the cara.
way and dill, which carry one back to
injecting" and to school days, and the
sweet fennel with its plume like leaves
low pretty they all are
The varieties of dwarf tomatoes, the
martynia with its horned pods the egg
plant, with its curious blossoms, the cap.
sicum family of such various size and
form, arc all attractive. and the castor
oil bean, so suggestive Of tropical vegeta.
ton, the gourd tribe, with its myriad aud
fantastic shapes. if not positively useful,
are well worth cultivatiDg for their beauty
alone.
Now some Of you have children with
artistic tastes. Let the garden be a field
for the development and exercise of those
tastes. With suitable instruction, train.
ing and encouragement, the making and
caring Tor garden would be an unafail-
ing source Of interest and amusement to
both boys and girls Furnish them with
the best works on horticulture and tori
culture.
You have plenty O. land. Enlarge
yonr gardens, aud let your soDs set out
trees, plant hedges, build rustic seats and
arbors-and try their hand at rock work.
For your daughters, 40 more pure, health
full and refining recreation can be found
than the cultivation of flowers Money
spent for seeds, bulbs and plants is not
thrown away, iIa judicious selection is
made
1t is to be regretted that botany is not
more generally taught in our schools. If
the rudiments only are acquired. the
knowledge affords lifelong pleasure
That line OF Pope,
"a little learning in dangerous thing"
which fifty years ago was 10 all the read
ing books, and has been on the lips Of
mankind ever since, when instruction to
the million Including femalcs) was to be
discouraged, is false, and should no long
er have a place in English literature. A
little knowledge even, of botany, (of
course, the more the bctter,) gives zest to
gardening, 10 horticulture, to florticul-
.ure, to agriculture in ull its branches to
everything which has for its object the
development and perfection Of vegetable
life; and even the superficial student in
this science. as IN geology and minera.
logy, in a walk over our hills and through
our woods, has his enjoyment increased a
hundred fold,
You are ambitious TO have good
house, convenient and well furnished
within; Of some architectural pretensions
without 1t is laudable ambition.
Next you want Il fine barn built on the
most approved plan, that your cattle,
horses and sheep may be healthy and com.
Portable, and enjoy life, This is as praise
worthy as The other, but to make your
place truly attractive, you need in add-
ton to these, not only good but hanh
some garden, not merely useful append
age the sole object of which is to minister
to the appetite. but something to please
the eye, to crafty that taste for the beau.
tiful which should be cultivated and en-
couraged, as one Of the means of keeping
the heart pure by daily acquaintance
with the iairest, loveliest, sweetest objects
which God has bestowed upon the earth
have spoken of the garden as a suit.
able field for the display Of artistic tastes.
1t is more beautiful than the works of
the sculptor Or the painter by as much as
nature excels ant. The greatest masters
can but initiate the perfection Of nature
but in vegetable life the forms are Gods
own, the colors are laid by the pencil of
the great painter, dipped 10 celestial dyes,
which in the tiny flower beneath our feet,
as well as in the bridge Of colors SEVEN"
spanning the broad Heavens. are upatoin.
able by mortal skill.
If | have seemed to give too much
prominence TO matters Of fancy, and too
little to those Of utility, let it be borne in
mind that the soundness and solidity OF
the other essa Us read on this occasion.
will preponderste, and this light article if
utterly worthless, will be crushed by their
weight and lost sight of. If however. it
possesses any value, it may rise TO the
surface again, and accomplish sometime,
the mission upon which it was sent