244 TEANSACTIONS OF THE HORTICULTUBAL 



" Gay, sprightly land of mirth and social ease, 

 Pleased with thyself, whom all the world can please; 

 How oft have 1 led thy sportive choir, 

 With tuneless pipe, beside the murmuring lyre." 



"Alike, all ages; Danes of ancient days, 

 ' Have led their children through the mirthful maze; 

 And the gay grandsire, skilled in gestic lore. 

 Has frisk'd beneath the burden of three-score." 



The Tuscan and Greek have their national frugal dish, made with 

 rice cooked with cheese. Macaroni, in many combinations, makes 

 their royal diet; wine and raisins are largely consumed. This people 

 have a lower grade of civilization than any we have mentioned. AH 

 their industries are of a lower grade, their wants less. They may 

 have souls worth saving, I leave it for theologians to settle that. 

 Malaria, cholera, and allied epidemics often thin their ranks; better 

 living and sanitary regulation might help them out. 



Scotland has frugal, healthy homes. They are a people of energy 

 and nerve. To them we are indebted for an excellent dish, and may, 

 in certain limits, be the main dish for light eaters and invalids. 

 Oatmeal with cream (the more of the latter the better), pea soup 

 and pea pudding are often the main dishes among the poor of Scot- 

 land's rugged hills. Fish, in various forms, supply them with nitro- 

 gen to keep up the combustion of their system. 



We wish to say but little of Germany, for the sauerkraut and 

 lager beer is too freely indulged in. She is a powerful nation, full 

 of conceit, a little too independent of God or the Pope, and fears the 

 American porker may fill him wuth trichinge. Let him cook his food 

 properly, and he ean eat with impunity. 



The poor Russian ! His lot is a hard one. He works hard and 

 enjoys his simple diet — onions and rye bread. His iron body bears 

 up well on this simple diet, and he enjoys good health. 



Lastly, China is a frugal nation. Her health will compare fav- 

 orably with any other nation. Her main dish is rice and tea; when 

 fortune favors her appetite, she has a roasted rat as a dessert. This 

 is her principle living. On this diet she appears to be healthy, con- 

 tented and happy. This strange, industrious people cannot be held 

 up as a typical standard of excellency which our civilization should 

 try to imitate. They are, however, far above the benighted heathen 

 intellectually, as we picture them in our imagination. 



In this diversified diet all these nations have more or less thrift 

 and health. There are many things used by them which we have 

 not mentioned. We have dwelt on their main dishes. We cannot, 

 however, believe but what many suffered from dyspepsia, and became 

 anaemic. Carlyle was a morose dyspeptic. His irritable nature 

 spared neither friend or foe. He was a cruel tyrant over one of the 

 most noble women that was ever the wife of man. Sometimes, under 



