Medical statistics show us that the average healthy life of a woman running a sewing machine is but four years. To be sure, she lives beyond that time, but in most instances her life is but a dull blank, for she can do little but suffer. Many noble women are sitting down in sorrow and objectless grief, leading dull, indolent lives, nursing every ache and pain, who are dependent upon relatives for their support, upon whom they have no claim, because they feel that they can do nothing for themselves. To such and all others who feel in their hearts that they ought to have some work to do, we would say, take up the work of horticulture, if you have a natural love for it; if not, do not attempt it, for you will most likely fail. But if you love it so well that you can identify your life with it, you cannot fail of success. Some women have a natural talent for fruit growing and market gardening. Both fields are open to women, and some of the very best conducted farms in the west are managed by them. One lady in the south, who was formerly worth a million dollars, is now supporting herself finely by the cultivation of the castor oil bean; others are supporting themselves by cultivating nuts and various kinds of herbs. A fair degree of health is warranted to most women in the horticultural work, for many physicians prescribe digging in the earth and out-door exercise for the cure of consumption, dyspepsia, and all nervous diseases.
The majority of women have a natural love for flowers, and find but little trouble in cultivating them successfully for their own pleasure, and I see no reason why they should not succeed as professional florists, as the art has now become so simplified that they will be enabled, after becoming fairly established and giving to it a few months careful study and experience, to succeed, if they have a natural bent in that direction. If a woman succeeds as a florist, she can do what she cannot in many other fields; she can command the same price for her produce that a man can, and that is most encouraging. If a woman wishes to engage in this business, perhaps it would be the better way to begin carefully, learning by experience, step by step; doing a small business at first, saying in the meantime to her friends that she expects them to patronize her liberally, and she will surely get the patronage if she works in the right way, as the demand for flowers and vines is largely on the increase; so much so, that no home is considered furnished without them.
But few women have as yet taken up floriculture as a business in the west, but in the east many are engaged in it, and not a few have secured fortunes from its profits. One of the most refined ladies we ever knew was a florist. She managed, with the assistance of a young German lad, three good sized green houses. The man did the coarse, heavy work, lifting heavy burdens, making fires, marketing the plants, etc., while she used the brain force to keep everything in fine running order, taking upon herself the personal supervision of each house. One house was kept for the hardy plants, just above the freezing point. In this was found varieties of roses, pansies, daisies, sweet alyssum and many others for daily cutting. The second house was kept at about 60°. The third at tropical heat. She bore the responsibility of buying, selling, shipping, slipping, repotting and preparing plants and boquets for market. She often re-potted three hundred plants in a day with her own hands, and when evening came, was the life of a charmed circle, who admired her for the beauty of her cultivated mind, fine musical talents, and kind, loving heart. She entered upon her work with the greatest love and enthusiasm for it. Often when she was admiring nature’s wealth and varieties of colors, and breathing the very odors of Heaven, she would exclaim, “You little know what beautiful thoughts come to me out of the ground, as I study the fathomless mysteries of plant life.” Her work was not all toil; it was truly an inspiration. Women so happily and healthfully employed are seldom sick. One such woman worker is doing more for the woman’s cause than a score of Susan Anthonys. We are proud of such women, and we have thousands of them all around us. Mrs. Little, of the blind asylum, Mrs. Harvey of hospital fame, and Mrs. Lynde, who has done so much to relieve suffering in our poor-houses and jails, are representatives of this type of women in our own State, and our good President Hayes’ wife, of national fame, whose bright light shines over the whole world, is proving that the “present epoch is initiating an empire of the higher reason of arts, affections, aspirations, and for that epoch the genius of woman has been reserved,” proving the old Oriental proverb, “that every book of knowledge is implanted by nature in the heart of woman,” to be true; scattering to the winds the pernicious and absurd saying of Voltaire, that “ideas were like beards; women and young men have none.”
Woman is emerging from the gloom of the dark ages into glorious light. She is like the famished plant in the gardener’s hand. It seemingly droops and withers without hope, but when he gives it the elements of growth, rich soil, dew, rain and God’s sunshine, it expands into a plant that sends out its beautiful foliage and rich blossoms, that will fill the air with fragrance and beauty, and the “world’s autumn” with rich fruit.
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Horticulture promotes health, furnishes appetizing and invigorating food, is a most delightful means of recreation, cultivates a refined taste, induces a spirit of cheerfulness, and awakens a sympathy with nature and a love for all the Creator’s works.
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SOME RELATIONS BETWEEN PLANTS AND INSECTS.
BY JOHN ELKINGTON, M.D., OMPAH, ONT.
Sir Jno. Lubbock, F.R.S., lately delivered a most interesting lecture on the above subject, in Leeds, England, some portions of which have a special interest to the hybridist; and though it is not possible in these pages to reproduce the whole discourse, I have thought a selection from the report in the English Agricultural Gazette might give profitable food for thought to readers of the Canadian Horticulturist.