In the foft medium, till they stand immers'd. Then rife the tender germs, upstarting quick, And spreading wide their spongy lobes; at first Pale, wan, and livid; but affuming foon, If fann'd by balmy and nutritious air, Strain'd through the friendly mats, a vivid green. Two leaves produc'd, two rough indented leaves, Cautious he pinches from the second stalk A pimple, that portends a future sprout, And interdicts its growth. Thence straight succeed The branches, sturdy to his utmost wish; Prolific all, and harbingers of more. The crowded roots demand enlargement now, And transplantation in an ampler fpace.
Indulg'd in what they wish, they foon fupply Large foliage, overshadowing golden flow'rs, Blown on the fummit of th' apparent fruit. These have their sexes; and, when summer shines, The bee transports the fertilizing meal From flow'r to flow'r, and ev'n the breathing air
Wafts the rich prize to its appointed ufe. Not fo when winter scowls. Afsistant art Then acts in nature's office, brings to pass The glad efpousals, and enfures the crop.
Grudge not, ye rich, (fince luxury must have His dainties, and the world's more num'rous half Lives by contriving delicates for you) Grudge not the cost. Ye little know the cares, The vigilance, the labour, and the skill, That day and night are exercis'd, and hang Upon the ticklish balance of suspense, That ye may garnish your profufe regales With summer fruits brought forth by wintry funs. Ten thousand dangers lie in wait to thwart The process. Heat and cold, and wind, and steam, Moisture and drought, mice, worms, and swarming flies,
Minute as duft, and numberless, oft work
Dire disappointment, that admits no cure, And which no care can obviate. It were long,
Too long, to tell th' expedients and the shifts
Which he that fights a season so severe
Devises, while he guards his tender truft; And oft, at last, in vain. The learn'd and wife Sarcastic would exclaim, and judge the fong Cold as its theme, and, like its theme, the fruit Of too much labour, worthless when produc'd.
Who loves a garden loves a green-house too. Unconscious of a less propitious clime, There blooms exotic beauty, warm and fnug, While the winds whistle and the snows descend. The spiry myrtle with unwith'ring leaf Shines there, and flourishes. The golden boaft Of Portugal and western India there, The ruddier orange, and the paler lime, Peep through their polish'd foliage at the storm, And feem to smile at what they need not fear. Th' amomum there with intermingling flow'rs And cherries hangs her twigs. Geranium boasts
Her crimfon honours, and the spangled beau,
Ficoides, glitters bright the winter long.
All plants, of ev'ry leaf, that can endure
The winter's frown, if screen'd from his shrewd bite, Live there, and profper. Those Aufonia claims, Levantine regions these; th' Azores fend Their jessamine, her jesfamine remote Caffraia: foreigners from many lands, They form one focial fhade, as if conven'd By magic fummons of the Orphean lyre. Yet just arrangement, rarely brought to pass But by a master's hand, disposing well The gay diversities of leaf and flow'r, Must lend its aid t' illustrate all their charms, And dress the regular yet various scene. Plant behind plant aspiring, in the van The dwarfish, in the rear retir'd, but still Sublime above the rest, the statelier stand. So once were rang'd the fons of ancient Rome, A noble show! while Roscius trod the stage; And fo, while Garrick, as renown'd as he,
The fons of Albion; fearing each to lofe Some note of Nature's music from his lips, And covetous of Shakespeare's beauty, seen In ev'ry flath of his far beaming eye. Nor taste alone and well-contriv'd display Suffice to give the marshall'd ranks the grace Of their complete effect. Much yet remains Unsung, and many cares are yet behind, And more laborious; cares on which depend Their vigour, injur'd foon, not foon restor'd. The foil must be renew'd, which, often wash'd,
Loses its treasure of falubrious falts,
And disappoints the roots; the slender roots
Close interwoven, where they meet the vafe,
Must smooth be shorn away; the sapless branch Muft fly before the knife; the wither'd leaf
Muft be detach'd, and where it strews the floor Swept with a woman's neatness, breeding elfe Contagion, and disseminating death. Difcharge but these kind offices, (and who
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