Being a great enthusiast in the cultivation of flowers in my own small way, I hope you will allow me to occupy a portion of the columns of the 'Gardener,' as I feel it to be a duty due to my brother horticulturists, belonging to the same class as myself, that I should say a few words to them on matters relating to the garden.

In the first place, I wish at the commencement of my remarks to state the pleasure that is to be derived from the cultivation of flowers. I am a mechanic by profession, and I have no chance of seeing my plants from six o'clock in the morning till six in the evening, except on Saturday, when I get a half-holiday - a blessed institution for the working-man; and that is the day in which all great alterations are done in my garden. As a matter of course, at this time of the year little can be done; but when daylight serves, I make all the use of it I can. In the evening, on my return from my labour, I take a look round to see what accidents have happened during my absence; then I take a hurried meal, and get out among my plants again, and then it is that the pleasure of cultivating plants is experienced. I wish I could command the language by which to describe the pleasure I feel in watching and nursing the various things I cultivate in all their various stages of health and disease. To a man of moderate capacity-there is by this means opened up a grand lesson, by which he can be brought to reflect on the wonders of creation, and the manifestations of goodness made by the great Omnipotence towards man.

By means of the naked eye we get some idea of the exquisite structure of plants and flowers; and how much do these exemplify the wondrous skill shown in the creation of all things ! When more closely viewed through the medium of a powerful microscope, I think there are very few occupations that have such a tendency to refine the feelings and elevate the mind as a taste for horticultural pursuits.

I have written these lines as an experiment, by way of testing my ability to interest and instruct my own class in matters relating to the garden. If agreeable, I shall be happy to furnish matter which will be the results of my own experience among plants, if so be they should prove of interest to the readers of the 'Gardener.' T. E.

[The author of this paper, which we have had to cast in a rather different form than that in which it came into our hands, is what he represents himself to be - a hard-working mechanic, and a most devoted disciple of Flora. He has, to our knowledge, gathered around his cottage a very unique collection of rare herbaceous plants in something like 150 species, all properly named, besides Roses, Gladioli, Dahlias, Pansies, etc. etc. In addition to which he has built himself a greenhouse and numerous frames, wherein he cultivates greenhouse and half-hardy plants, etc. He is a leading member of several village floral societies; and he expresses great anxiety to diffuse a taste for flowers amongst the class to which he belongs, believing, as he states he does, that it would make them better workmen, better husbands, and better fathers, and keep them from the beer-shop and public-house. He has volunteered to give us a series of papers on this subject, addressed to his fellow-mechanics, a great many of whom we are proud to have as readers. - Eds].