Pant for the praife of dreffing to the taste
Of critic appetite, no fordid fare,
A cucumber, while coftly yet and scarce.
The ftable yields a ftercoraceous heap,
Impregnated with quick fermenting falts,
And potent to refift the freezing blast:
For, ere the beech and elm have caft their leaf
Deciduous, when now November dark
Checks vegetation in the torpid plant
Expofed to his cold breath, the task begins.
Warily therefore and with prudent heed
He feeks a favoured fpot; that where he builds
The agglomerated pile his frame may front
The fun's meridian disk, and at the back
Enjoy close shelter, wall, or reeds, or hedge
Impervious to the wind. Firft he bids fpread
Dry fern or littered hay, that may imbibe
The afcending damps; then leisurely impose,
And lightly, fhaking it with agile hand.
From the full fork, the saturated straw.
What longest binds the closest forms fecure
The fhapely fide, that as it rifes takes,
By juft degrees, an overhanging breadth,
Sheltering the base with its projected eaves;
The uplifted frame, compact at every joint,
And overlaid with clear translucent glass,
He fettles next upon the floping mount,
Whose sharp declivity shoots off secure
From the dashed pane the deluge as it falls.
He fhuts it close, and the firft labour ends.
Thrice muft the voluble and restless earth
Spin round upon her axle, ere the warmth,
Slow gathering in the midft,through the square ma
Diffused, attain the furface: when, behold!
A peftilent and most corrofive stream,
Like a grofs fog Boeotian, rifing fast,
And faft condensed upon the dewy safh,
Afks egrefs; which obtained, the overcharged
And drenched confervatory breathes abroad,
In volumes wheeling flow, the vapour dank;
And purified rejoices to have loft
Its foul inhabitant. But to affuage
The impatient fervour, which it firft conceives
Within its reeking bosom, threatening death
To his young hopes, requires discreet delay.
Experience, flow preceptress, teaching oft
The way to glory by miscarriage foul,
Muft prompt him, and admonish how to catch The aufpicious moment, when the tempered heat, Friendly to vital motion, may afford
Soft fomentation, and invite the feed.
The feed, felected wifely, plump, and smooth,
And gloffy, he commits to pots of fize
Diminutive, well filled with well-prepared
And fruitful foil, that has been treasured long,
And drank no moisture from the dripping clouds:
These on the warm and genial earth, that hides
The smoking manure and o'erspreads it all,
He places lightly, and, as time fubdues
The rage of fermentation, plunges deep
In the foft medium, till they ftand immersed.
Then rife the tender germs, upstarting quick,
And spreading wide their spongy lobes; at first
Pale, wan, and livid; but affuming foon,
If fanned by balmy and nutritious air,
Strained through the friendly mats, a vivid green.
Two leaves produced, two rough indented leaves,
Cautious he pinches from the second stalk
A pimple, that portends a future sprout,
And interdicts its growth. Thence ftraight fucceed
The branches, fturdy to his utmost wish;
Prolific all, and harbingers of more.
The crowded roots demand enlargement now,
And tranfplantation in an ampler space.
Indulged in what they wish, they soon supply
Large foliage, overshadowing golden flowers,
Blown on the fummit of the apparent fruit.
These have their fexes! and, when fummer fhines,
The bee transports the fertilizing meal
From flower to flower, and e'en the breathing air
Wafts the rich prize to its appointed use.
Not fo when winter fcowls. Affiftant art
Then acts in nature's office, brings to pafs
The glad efpoufals, and enfures the crop.
Grudge not ye rich, (fince luxury mutt have His dainties, and the world's more numerous half: Lives by contriving delicates for you)
Grudge not the coft. Ye little know the cares,
The vigilance, the labour, and the skill,
That day and night are exercifed, and hang
Upon the ticklish balance of fufpenfe,
That ye may garnish your profufe regales
With fummer fruits brought forth by wintry funs.
Ten thousand dangers lie in wait to thwart
The process. Heat and cold, and wind, and fteam, 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 the expedients and the fhifts,
Which he that fights a season fo fevere
Devifes, while he guards his tender truft;
And oft at laft in vain. The learned and wife
Sarcastic would exclaim, and judge the fong
Cold as its theme, and like its theme the fruit
Of too much labour, worthlefs when produced.
Who loves a garden loves a green-house too. Unconscious of a lefs propitious clime, There blooms exotic beauty, warm and fnug, While the winds whistle and the fnows defcend. The fpiry myrtle with unwithering leaf Shines there, and flourishes. The golden boaft Of Portugal and western India there, The ruddier orange, and the paler lime, Peep through their polished foliage at the ftorm, And feem to fmile at what they need not fear.
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