No. 63.] 303 



significant silence, portray the beauties of barren fields, half sur- 

 rounded by old brush-fence and rotten rails — of unruly cattle, and 

 crops half destroyed. The " fifteen gates," forcibly remind one of 

 the amount of labor which is annually lost in taking down and put- 

 ting up as many " sets of bars," or of the gaps which are left in the 

 wall "/or bars," but which, '■'■for the present ^^'' (and often a durable 

 present,) are filled up with broken rails. The favorable notice these 

 gentlemen take of the orchards, fruit yards, and gardens, appertain- 

 ing to the farms they visited, sufhcently evinces their high estimation 

 of these departments of a farm establishment, and their taste for the 

 luxuries which they may be made to afford. The catalogue and de- 

 scription of his fruit-trees and fruit, so kindly furnished by I. C. 

 Piatt, speak volumes in praise of this veteran farmer's wisdom and 

 good taste, in devoting so much attention to this department of his 

 calling. His example is worthy of imitation; and may it stimulate 

 others who have too much neglected this fruitful source of pleasure 

 and profit, to give it their increased attention. The value of a good 

 kitchen-garden, is not likely to be over-rated. Besides being the 

 most profitable portion of the farm, it may be made to contribute 

 more than all the rest to the physical enjoyment of those who partake 

 at the farmer's table. And if to this be added a fruit-garden^ con- 

 taining a choice selection of the best varieties adapted to the soil and 

 climate, in thrifty and bearing condition, he may well feel a sort of 

 independence which none others can. He is no longer dependent on 

 foreign climes and foreign trade for the supply of most of his table 

 delicacies. The distressing effects of fluctuation in State and Nation- 

 al affairs, may reach to his pocket, but they can hardly extend to his 

 plate; and so far as relates to the supplies of his table, monopolies 

 and embargoes, tariffs and free trade, are all well-nigh the same to 

 him. 



We hope this subject will engage the increased attention of the 

 Society. In no other respect are the farmers of this county so far 

 behind their neighbors of other counties as in this. Our orchards 

 are, generally, in a thriftless and decaying state; while comparatively 

 little attention is paid to the rearing of young orchards, or the im- 

 provement of the old. The pear is equally as well adapted to our 

 climate as the apple, and its excellent qualities are well known; — 

 still, it is almost as rare a thing to see an individual of the species 

 communis around the farmer's domicil, as one of the genus citrus (or 

 the lemon tribe) within it. The plum, the cherry, and all the small- 

 er fruits, have hitherto shared the same neglect. Some few trees of 

 some of these kinds, and of the common varieties, are usually to be 

 met with in the margin, or some secluded corner of the farmer's gar- 

 den, where the turf is never broken, and the sprouts are allowed to 

 grow up into a thicket, from which little fruit is obtained, and that 

 of little value; while (with a few honorable exceptions, at the head 

 of which stands the gentleman above mentioned) scores of improved 

 and choice varieties, which might be procured at a trifling expense, 

 and cultivated quite as easy, and which would return more fruit of 

 superior excellence, now remain unnoticed and almost unknown. In 



