cially for the daughters of a family, is greatly
promotive of health and amusement. It is with the hope, that many young
ladies, whose habits are now so formed, that they can never be induced
to a course of active domestic exercise, so long as their parents are
able to hire domestics, may yet be led to an employment, which will tend
to secure health and vigor of constitution, that so much space is given,
in this work, to directions for the cultivation of fruits and flowers.
It would be a most desirable improvement, if all female schools could be
furnished with suitable grounds, and instruments, for the cultivation of
fruits and flowers, and every inducement offered, to engage the young
ladies in this pursuit. No father, who wishes to have his daughters grow
up to be healthful women, can take a surer method to secure this end.
Let him set apart a portion of his yard and garden, for fruits and
flowers, and see that the soil is well prepared and dug over, and all
the rest may be committed to the care of the children. These would need
to be provided with a light hoe and rake, a dibble, or garden trowel, a
watering-pot, and means and opportunities for securing seeds, roots,
buds, and grafts, all which might be done at a trifling expense. Then,
with proper encouragement, and by the aid of such directions as are
contained in this work, every man, who has even half an acre, could
secure a small Eden around his premises.

In pursuing this amusement, children can also be led to acquire many
useful habits. Early rising would, in many cases, be thus secured; and
if they were required to keep their walks and borders free from weeds
and rubbish, habits of order and neatness would be induced. Benevolent
and social feelings could also be cultivated, by influencing children to
share their fruits and flowers with friends and neighbors, as well as
to distribute roots and seeds to those, who have not the means of
procuring them. A woman or a child, by giving seeds, or slips, or roots,
to a washerwoman, or a farmer's boy, thus exciting them to love and
cultivate fruits and flowers, awakens a new and refining source of
enjoyment in minds, which have few resources more elevated than mere
physical enjoyments. Our Saviour directs, in making feasts, to call, not
the rich, who can recompense again, but the poor, who can make no
returns. So children should be taught to dispense their little
treasures, not alone to companions and friends, who will p