Nurseryman

“ The nurseryman must wait until his stocks have been grown one or more years in the nursery, his trees will sometimes be larger than he desires, they will be apt to have the mark of the grafting as a blemish upon the stalk sometimes during the life of the tree; and worse than all, he is restricted to a brief period in the spring, when he is obliged to perform the operation out of doors, and often in very unpleasant weather. ”

“ While then it will always be to the nurseryman’s interest to work such kinds as he can sell the most of—he has a right, in so far as he directs the public judgment of his neighborhood, to give a preference, among equal fruits, to such as work the surest and strongest. ”

“ Where it is practicable and within reach, it is best for the planter to visit the nursery and make his own selection of the trees, especially if the demand be for a limited number; but he may generally depend upon the judgment and honesty of the nurseryman, if he has given his order distinctly as to the shape of the trees he desires to purchase. ”

“ A pretty, cheerful nursery—a nursery in which surely children could not but be happy—with pictures on the walls and toys in the glass-doored cupboard, and rocking-horse and doll-house, and everything a child's heart could wish for. ”

“ Mere ornament is not what strikes the visitor, and yet the nursery is one beautiful picture in its varied and blending colors of fruit, flowers, and foliage; for the orchard and garden are by no means neglected—the visitor can find the fruits themselves, the crucial test. ”

“ When I went up to your nursery that first time, and looked at you, I thought you were the most wonderful thing God ever made. You lay there in your little white crib and stared at me with your round, blue eyes, and then you smiled and thrust out the tiniest scrap of a hand. I didn't dare breathe. And everything around you was so perfect—white enamel, blue and yellow and pink birds and squirrels and dogs and things painted on your walls, the last word in baby furniture and toilet things. That very day a friend of mine asked me to help drive the orphans of the city on their annual outing. ”

“ It is astonishing at how small an expense, with a little contrivance, the gloomy, quiet nursery may be converted into a cheerful, happy one, and a small plot of ground into a full-sized farm in the mind of the infant farmer. ”

“ Into this pretty nursery flies another child—a tiny fairy of a girl, tiny even for her years which are but five—in she flies, down the long passage which leads to the children's quarters, in at the nursery door, which, in spite of her hurry, she carefully closes, and seeing that the other door is open closes it too, then, flying back to the centre of the room, deliberately sets to work to—children, can you guess?—to scream! ”

“ We can only understand the child, and what we are to do for it in the Kindergarten, by understanding the first stage of its being—the pre-intellectual one in the nursery. The body is the first garden in which God plants the human soul, "to dress and to keep it." The loving mother is the first gardener of the human flower. Good nursing is the first word of Frœbel's gospel of child-culture.
The process of taking possession of the organs, that I have just described, is never performed perfectly unless children are nursed genially. ”

“ In this healthful, delightful nursery, and in walks with my nurse about the lawns and shrubberies, the first years of my happy childhood went by; fed in body with the freshest milk and eggs and fruit, everything best for a child; and in mind supplied only with the simple, sweet lessons of my gentle mother. No unwholesome food, physical or moral, was ever allowed to come in my way till body and soul had almost grown to their full stature. ”

“ There is no reason why a new-born child should not sleep as soundly under the canopy of a garden-tree on a pillow of sunwarmed hay as in the atmosphere of an ill-ventilated nursery. Thousands of sickly nurslings, pining away in the slums of our manufacturing towns, might be saved by an occasional sun-bath. ”

“ Even now we venture into that familiar nursery only because its lawful occupants are on their way home; we are merely hurrying on in advance of them to see that their beds are properly aired and that Mr. and Mrs. Darling do not go out for the evening. We are no more than servants. Why on earth should their beds be properly aired, seeing that they left them in such a thankless hurry? ”

“ What a wealth of finery and prettiness had been lavished upon the little mortal, who would have been infinitely happier dressed in rags and making mud-pies in a gutter, than in his splendid raiment and well-furnished nursery; an uninteresting nursery, where there were no cupboards full of broken wagons and head-less horses, flat-nosed dolls and armless grenadiers, the cast-off playthings of a flock of brothers and sisters—a very chaos of rapture for the fingers of infancy! ”

“ They not only leave a nursery perfectly quiet at night, shut away from all the disturbances of the house, but during the daytime they keep the family from hearing the play, the romping, or the unhappy times in the nursery. ”

“ From this we turned to the nursery, where all the children incapable of work are kept; the babies are quite naked, and sometimes very handsome in their way, black and shining, with bright eyes and well-formed limbs. ”

“ For these plantlets I chose a nursery that was not exposed all day to the sun. One has to think for them; they repay it with quicker and sturdier growth, which means better flowering capacity in the spring.
So all my wallflowers, forget-me-nots, Canterbury-bells, sweet-Williams, silene, were thus attended to, and, added to my nursery division of perennial seeds, which I now divided up in like fashion, made a grand show, or promise rather. ”

“ That the rules of the nursery—I mean the nursery where the true mother is the present genius, not the hell at the top of a London house—that the rules of the nursery over which broods a wise mother with outspread wings of tenderness, should be the laws also of cosmic order, of a world's well-being, of national greatness, and of all personal dignity, may well be an old-wives'-fable to the man who dabbles at saving the world by science, education, hygiene and other economics. ”

“ Flowers must be transplanted. Flower-seeds must be sown; shrubs and trees pruned; vines looked after; a walk taken over the hill to see after some evergreens, with many pauses to gaze upon the landscape, and many birds watched as they are confidentially exhibiting their domestic traits before you. The kittens, too, at the barn must be visited, the calf, and the new cow. Then every gardener knows how much time is consumed in watching the new plants. For instance, I have eight new kinds of strawberries that need looking after, each one purporting to be a world’s wonder. ”

“ Only those who have tried it know what tiring work flower arrangement is, and only strong, able-bodied girls should contemplate such a profession. Success, as in all undertakings, comes after long perseverance and patience. The ideal method of carrying on this business is to have a nursery garden and raise suitable flowers in it to supply one’s own shop. ”

“ With the rocking horse, the bricks, the doll's house, the cart or wheel-barrow, the tea and dinner set, the Noah's Ark and the puzzle maps, the nursery will be rudimentarily equipped. The supplementary equipment can be added as it is needed, not by the sporadic outbursts of unclish extravagance, but by well-considered and slow degrees, and by means in which the child participates. For we must never forget that the child loves, both in imagination and in fact, to create. ”

“ Intelligent and honest nurserymen; orchard planters who either know what varieties are best for them to have, or who are willing to trust the selection to the afore-mentioned intelligent and honest nursery-men; and third, first-class talkers, intelligent as to varieties and methods of culture, who buy only of the intelligent and honest nursery-men, to go through the country and sell trees. ”

“ My boy is just two, and such a yell of delight when he finds a 'bow-wow,' as he calls the dog, all to himself, would astonish a Piute Indian. I don't have to keep any 'cramp drops,' 'baby jumpers' or 'patent food,' (?) for the children. I find they never have an ail or grievance, but 'The Nursery' acts as a specific. I wish every mother in the land would give it to her children on trial. And really it makes old people feel quite sunny. ”

“ The new-born do not leave their respective nurseries. Packed close together, they spend the whole of the wintry season there, while the mother, squatting on the pile of cells, watches over the general safety, without knowing her family other than by the gentle trepidations felt through the partitions of the tiny chambers. ”

“ For these nurseries attempt to minister only to physical wants. Although the needs of the child at infancy seem to be largely physical, we know, that from the day of its birth, the infant is getting impressions and forming habits. The manner in which we satisfy his needs, the habits which he forms under our care, shape his future character,—and yet, the training of the so-called trained nurses in charge of the average nursery, enables them to attend to the physical needs only. ”

“ There were several children who lived in this pleasant farmhouse, for Tic-tac-too had many brothers and sisters. The old-fashioned nursery was all that a modern nursery should be; it had deep cupboards for toys, and each child had his or her wide shelf to keep special treasures on ”

“ Is there no light work in your nursery I could do at once?”
She smiled. “All people look for light work. That iss—skilled work. Mine leetle plants, like tender child, must be very gently touched, ant mit love. ”

“ The nurseries are large and well supplied with beautiful toys and nursery books, showered upon the home by the children of the well-to-do and the rich. who delight to share their numerous gifts with the poor ones who find shelter here. ”

“ So the keeper rose and opened the garden to him, and brought him the carpet and coverlet, knowing not that the King’s daughter was minded to visit the garth. On this wise fared it with the Prince; but as regards the nurse, she returned to the Princess and told her that the fruits were kindly ripe on the garden trees; whereupon she said, “O my nurse, go down with me to-morrow into the garden, that we may walk about in it and take our pleasure,—Inshallah; and send meanwhile to the Gardener, to let him know what we purpose.” ”

“ The care which covers the seed of the tree under tough husks and, stony cases, provides, for the human plant, the mother's breast and the father's house. The size of the nestler is comic, and its tiny beseeching weakness is compensated perfectly by the happy patronizing look of the mother, who is a sort of high reposing Providence toward it. ”

“ But when one thinks of a good child faithfully adhering to the nursery ethic the thought is not bearable unless it is understood that there is a kind nurse in the house who dresses her up for her walk so that people smile on her in the streets, and maybe buys her a coloured balloon, and when they come back to tea spreads the jam thick and is not shocked at the idea of cake. ”

“ The nursery governess is now such a sad little figure that I think she cannot live long without the over-brushed young man, and nowadays I try all the seats in the smoking-room, and thunder at George because the coffee has become undrinkable. This is a wet Thursday, and from the smoking-room window where I write I can see the little nursery governess beginning her hopeless walk at the top of the street. That it is hopeless I cannot doubt; she will meet her lover no more. ”

“ The large majority of purchasers at the nursery always select those trees which are most vigorous, notwithstanding the prejudice against stimulating the trees, and then with mutilated roots, they probably omit cutting back the limbs sufficiently, and when their neglected orchard fails, they complain of the forced trees. The change from the good cultivation of the nursery to the careless culture and even neglect of the farm, is certainly hard for the poor things to bear. Late growth, encouraged by high manuring, is injurious. ”

“ If there are, in the nursery, objects which, from the vivacity or brilliancy of their colors, attract the attention of the child, they should never be presented to them sideways, or immediately over their heads. ”

“ In the latter case, the nursery usually guarantees that everything supplied will live for a year or be replaced without charge. Personally, we have found that the nearer home we bought nursery stock, the better were its chances of living and thriving. There is no adjustment to different climatic conditions and such plants and shrubs are only a very short time out of the soil before they are planted in your grounds either by you or the man sent from the nursery. Nearly always they put their roots down and continue growing with little or no interruption. ”

“ Even in the nursery the greatest care should be taken. The little ones should be supplied with large toys, a large box of plain wooden bricks being the best form; picture books should be discouraged, and close work that entails undue convergence, such as sewing, threading beads, &c., ought to be forbidden. The nursery governess can teach the alphabet, small words and even simple arithmetic with the bricks. No child with a tendency to myopia, or with a myopic family history should be allowed to learn to write or draw until at least seven years old. ”

“ The influence of surroundings during the formative years of childhood has a deal to do with the child's future attitude toward life, and now that parents realize this more, the ideal nursery has simplicity, charm and artistic merit, all suited to the needs of its romping inhabitants. ”