One of the greatest of all the sources of enjoyment resulting from the possession of a garden is the endless variety which it produces, either by the perpetual progress of vegetation which is going forward in it to maturity, dormancy, or decay, or by the almost innumerable kinds of plants which may be raised in even the smallest garden. Even the same trees; grown in the same garden, are undergoing perpetual changes throughout the year; and trees change, also, in every succeeding year, relatively to that which is past; because they Become larger and larger as they advance in age, and acquire more of their characteristic and mature forms. The number of plants, and especially of trees, which can be cultivated in any garden at one time is necessarily circumscribed; but, if an amateur chose to limit the period during which he cultivated each tree or plant to the time of its flowering with him for the first time, he might, in the course of a few years, more or less in number according to the size of his garden, have had growing in it all the plants in cultivation in the open air in Britain, with the exception of a few of the larger of the forest trees; and even these he might also have flowered, by making use of plants raised from cuttings or layers, or of miniature trees, made by ringing and rooting the branches of old trees in the Chinese manner.

Independently, however, of the variety and change resulting from the plants cultivated, every month throughout the year has its particular operations and its products: nay, it would not be too much to say, that during six months of the year a change takes place, and is perceptible, in the plants of a garden, every day; and every day has, in consequence, its operations and its products. Even in winter, there is still something to do in every garden, however small may be its extent: the walks require to be kept in order, and some plants must be protected by litter or matting; and, if there should be no trees to prune, no ground to dig, no manure to collect or to barrow out, no dung to turn and prepare for hotbeds, there is, at all events, the preparation of names or numbers for plants; the cutting and painting of rods to tie them to; the sorting of seeds; the making of baskets; and the search after information on the subjects of plants and their culture, in books.

But imagine that to the villa garden there is added a small green-house, or a flued pit! What a source of amusement and interest does not either of these garden structures hold out to the amateur gardener, during the winter and spring! Exactly in proportion as, in autumn, the out-door operations become fewer, the in-door operations of the green-house or pit become more numerous; and, if the expense of a green-house should be objected to, much of the produce of the green-house may be procured, at half the expense, by the use of a pit, which requires no other glass than the sashes which form its roof. The amusement and the products which such a pit, in the hands of an ingenious amateur, is calculated to afford, are almost without end. Small salading may he produced in it throughout the whole winter. Chicory roots (though this may he accomplished in a common cellar) may be made to throw out their blanched leaves, which form the most delightful of all winter salads, at least to our taste; tart rhubarb or sea-kale may be forced in pots; as may parsley, mint, and other herbs. Bulbs may be forced; and a bloom of China roses may be kept up throughout the winter.

But, perhaps, the most important use to which such a pit can be applied, in a small garden, is to preserve throughout the winter, and to bring forward in spring, pelargoniums, fuchsias, salvias, calceolarias, verbenas, and other fine exotic flowers, and also half-hardy and tender annuals, for turning out into the flower-garden, or into the miscellaneous border, in the beginning of summer.

These are a few of the absolute enjoyments to be derived from a country house and garden; and we shall next notice another, which flows from the same source, but which may be called relative or incidental. The opportunity which a garden affords to its possessor of acquiring a scientific and practical knowledge of plants is a source of great interest, not only in his own garden, but wherever else plants may come in his way; whether in a wild state, in gardens, exposed for sale in markets, or delineated and described in books. Another source of incidental enjoyment is that which will arise from the acquirement of some knowledge of gardening, and of rural architecture as an art of design and taste. How great a source of enjoyment this is, and how great an interest.it enables its possessor to take in landscapes, and in architecture, generally; or, in short, wherever he sees a house or a tree; those only can know who have gone through the necessary preparation.

There is scarcely such a thing to be found as a lady who is not fond of flowers; but it is not saying too much, to affirm that there are very few ladies indeed who are competent to lay out a flower-garden; though the skill required to do so is within the capacity of every woman who can work or embroider patterns for the different parts of female dress: and, supposing a female to have grown up without the slightest knowledge of the art of working a pattern, Or of tracing out a flower-garden, it would certainly be much easier for her to acquire the latter art than the former. The result, in both cases, might be obtained almost without instruction, provided the party desiring to form the dress, or the flower-garden, had a clear idea of what was wanted. But, while every female understands this in regard to dress, and, consequently, can succeed in adapting embroidery to her clothes, whenever she finds it necessary, very few have any distinct idea of what a flower-garden ought to be; and, hence, we seldom or never see them produce a satisfactory design for one, without the aid of a professional man.