The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-05-05

women particularly need the bracing effects of
| Spring sunshine and air. But the exercise in
which they may indulge should not be too
| violent or fatiguing Something which pro-
vides at the same time gentle and varied actiy-
| ity for the muscles and pleasant employment
for the mind will be found most healthful and
beneficial. Particularly for women who have
household and social duties to perform, 1T is
important that outdoor exercise should not
make too much of draft upon the common
stock Of muscular and nervous energy.
With this consideration in view, perhaps no
outdoor employment or recreation affords
better physical and mental exercise for women,
at this season of the year, than flower garden
ing 1t has many points Of advantage. First,
it Is distinctively feminine employment,
ministering to the delicate love of beauty, the
fine sensibiities, the taste and refnement so
characteristic of woman.
Then, too it is an employment which can be
carried on at odd moments, little now and a
tile then, as time can be snatched from the
regular work of the household. 1t does not
call one away from home; requires no waste
of time or strength getting at 1t or getting
away from it; is not expensive; provides gen.
tie and varied kind of exercise most beneficial
to nerves and muscles; is a constant joy to the
eye, and constant source Of instruction to the
mind.
Further, It Ia possible under almost any con-
ulIlOUS, except inc LuOoG dhI CuuhHSN.
So long as there is little patch OF dOoryard,
even in the heart of a great city, that bit of
brick desert may be made to bud
and blossom like the rose"
Many q mechanics or day-laborer's wife
has been able to brighten their little home and
premises by the outlay of few cents for the
necessary seeds and tools, with beauty and
fragrance such that the wealth OF al emperor
could not purchase finer.
Nov mad ha nefarPnH hv the thnnpht
that it must require some previous knowledge
and skill to be q successful foTer-gardener
even on small scale. Experience, of course
helps. but fortunately in Horticulture one can
utilize ones experience as he goes along.
few simple directions, which generally &C
company each package of seed are all that is
necessary to start with. Some of the frst
flowers in our city markets come from the lit
tie garden-plats of women who have never
made any study of the art of Horticulture.
They have simply planted their seeds accord
ing to directions tended them carefully and
regularly, and made use of the simple facts of
experience which they gained from day to day,
while watching the results of their work. A
great fower.show in London, not long ago the
prize for the best and largest exhibit was given
to lady. not professional foriculturist, who
had done all the work required by her exhibit,
from preparing the soil to cutting and arrang-
ing the flowers, with her own hands.
And this suggests an important considera-
ton, viz, that flower gardening for women, in
order to be of much value either as a recrea-
ton or a means of profit, must be personally
conducted work.
1t is not flower gardening for a woman to
stand by and superintend the work of some-
body else-pcrhaps it would be better to say,
interfere with the work of somebody else.
This is not exercise, and il is not flower grow
ing.
In order to be truly interested and truly
benefited by her avocation, the amateur fiOri-
culturist must do her own planting watering,
wedding and cutting. Otherwise she might
as we'll go out and try to direct some gang OF
bricklayers. The work. in that case, would be
Just as much hers as in the other case.
One cannot cultivate flowers long without
learning great deal about botany. This is
by no means the least of the advantages to be
derived from keeping a flower garden. First
the names of the different flowers will be
learned; then their characteristics and habits
will be unconsciously noted; next, one will be
irresistibly moved to examine their structure,
to learn the names of the different parts and
the functions they perform. This is the very
best way to study any science, and the person
who begins the study of botIny thus will be
sure to master it most thoroughly and easily.
Considerations of health, enjoyment and
mental culture all indorse the advice of wise
physician 10 a nervous lady patient of his
a Buy a trowel maam, and don't let me hear
YOU asking for any more medicine until you
have brought me bushel of flowers raised by
YOUR own hand" 1t is unnecessary to add
that when the lady brought the bushel of
flowers. she did not ask for any medicine in
return.