I am straying however, though not very widely, from the more immediate object of this letter, which was to suggest, with all due deference to your superior knowledge and experience, an addition to the usual contents of a botanical garden. I am inclined to think that, if hot-houses, and the fruit department in general, formed a part of the plan, the garden would be much more efficiently supported than those establishments usually are. In a manufacturing town, there is only a small minority who can be brought to perceive the use of any thing which does not either help to put money into their pockets, or to procure some palpable pleasure of the senses. That science (except the department which invents spinning-jennies) or art should be included in the category of the useful, utterly passes their comprehension, for they have yet to learn that the use of all created existences is to form, expand, and elevate the mind of man. To such men, botany seems as useless as astrology, and a collection of ferns or Orchidaceï¾µ as little to be prized as an assortment of weeds. But it will be found to be far otherwise with fruit; there are few palates so obtuse as to be insensible to the charms of the perfumed grape, or not to prize the melting and the juicy peach. Many there are, therefore, who would encourage the cultivation of fruit, who would think themselves mad were they to give a single shilling towards a mere botanical garden. I am not sure whether a compliance with my suggestion might not even double the number of subscribers.
