DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



139 



In order to increase as much as possible the 

 interest of the convent ion, the delegates are re- 

 ed to bring with them, (carefully packed and 

 labelled, so as to present them in good order,) 

 specimens of all fruits grown in their vicinity, that 

 mav be worthy of notice, together with a small 

 branch and leaves, if possible, of every new vari- 

 ety. 



I , ery contributor is earnestly requested to make 

 ■i list of his specimens, and present the same with 

 his fruits, in order that a report of all the varie- 

 ties entered, may he submitted to the convention 

 as soon as possible after its organization. 



The convention will hold its meetings in the 

 New Saloon, kindly tendered by the American 

 Institute for its accommodation. Marshall P. 

 Wilder, (of Mass.) President. 



S. B. Parsons, of New York; P. Barry, of 

 New York; Geo. B. Deacon, of New Jersey, 

 Secretaries. .... 



Retrospective Criticism. — Mr. /Zditor .- As 

 I have been a much interested reader of your jour- 

 nal from its first publication, I propose to make 

 monthly criticisms on such of it* articles as may 

 demand a note or two of comment, as they oc- 

 cur to my mind in passing, and by way of exam- 

 ple I send you the accompanying remarks. They 

 are, as you see, in the " free and easy" fashion of 

 one who speaks what he thinks; not unprofitable, 

 perhaps, by way of addenda to the general reader. 

 If this meet your approbation, I propose to con- 

 tinue them, at least for a time. 



CRITIQUE ON THE JULY HORTICULTURIST. 



Your Leader, on Cemeteries and Public Gar- 

 dens. — How refreshing and grateful it is to con- 

 template the growing taste in our country for rural 

 cemeteries ! So rapidly is this correct and delight- 

 ful taste spreading throughout the northern states, 

 that hardly a town of any note but has already 

 established, or is about to establish, its public ce- 

 metery in some picturesque, retired spot. When, 

 fifteen years ago, I first visited Mount Auburn, 

 near Boston, and looked around among its sweet, 

 secluded graves, and read its silent, yet eloquent 

 monuments, I almost thought it a pleasure to die, 

 and be so buried ; at least a consolation for leav- 

 ing so many bright and beautiful things in life, to 

 lie down in sueh a spot, where good men would 

 tread around, and holy thoughts breathe over my 

 dust ! 



In an after-conversation with a distinguished and 

 reverend poet, on the subject of rural cemeteries, 

 and of Mount Auburn, I shall not soon forget the 

 delightful manner in which he spoke of his own 

 selected burial place in that consecrated ground, 

 — may it be long before he shall be called to oc- 

 cupy it ! — that it lay on a shadv knoll, looking out 

 on the distant bay with its shining waters, the. 

 rising wooded hills beyond, and, dearest of all to 

 him, the spire of his own hallowed church in the 

 eity ; as sweet a vibration of poetic feeling as^v- 

 er ran in his own touching verse. 



But I digress. You can employ your pen no 

 better than in often waking the attention of our 

 countrymen to the importance of this subject, as 

 well a promoter of public health in our cities and 

 towns, as enlarging our taste for the useful and the 

 refined. 



In recommending public gardens, I fear you but 

 address deaf ears. When our intelligent and en- 

 lightened Americans cease to mutilate objects of 

 taste in art, to whittle awav banisters, and rail- 

 ings, and columns on our public buildings, and 

 places of resort, and cease cutting their names and 

 initials on every tree which shades such of our 

 beautiful grounds as are already frequented, and 

 behave as well in such particulars as barbarian 

 Turks, and infidel Frenchmen, and Italians, and 

 the " almighty dollar" ceases to be the highest 

 god of their worship, then may we hope to see 

 your suggestions carried out. But until then, 

 " Barnum's Museum," et id genus omne, will con- 

 tinue to pocket the spare shillings of the multi- 

 tude, and those who really love the rural, and its 

 pleasures, will either resort to those spots for en- 

 joyment over which they have the exclusive con- 

 trol, or do, as they always have, without them. 

 A chapter might well be written on this subject, 

 which a few might read and appreciate. But it 

 would pass, and the multitude would move on as 

 before, regardless of all right taste and improve- 

 ment in a subject that did not promise to put cent 

 percent into their pockets. [But we believe it 

 will put cent per cent, and cannot see why the pub- 

 lie should not respect the property in beautiful 

 public gardens, as well as luxurious hotels and 

 steamboats. Ed. J 



" On Bark-bound Cherry Trees." — I don't be- 

 lieve a w r ord of any such necessity. If the hide- 

 bound tree is properly cultivated at the root, and 

 proper manures applied, it will find out its own 

 method of" bursting the bark," " tough asasheet 

 of tin" though it be, which, by the way, it is not. 

 Why not, when turning out a hide-bound, over- 

 labored horse to pasture, after a dose of physic, or 

 a smart bleeding, strike with a knife his back and 

 sides, that through his expanded hide the new flesh 

 may grow ! The scurf and dandruff removed from 

 his skin by the curry comb is all that we suppose 

 the brute requires; and why should the vegetable, 

 in the physiology of which it in many particulars 

 resembles the animal, be treated more rigorously ! 

 The scraper, the brush and soap-dish will do its 

 full office for the tree, be it cherry or other. 

 Professor Turner's dilliculty, to which Mr. New- 

 ton alludes, lies deeper than any mechanical pro- 

 cess which he has described. The deep, rich, al- 

 luvion, and the rapid and extreme changes of 

 atmosphere in Illinois, aoting decidedly on the ex- 

 otic (as they too often are) trees reared in other 

 and distant localities, will, on examination, be 

 found the chief obstacles in their cultivation. It 

 will be found thai these new and peculiar soils 

 must, in many cases, have fruits of their own ori- 

 gin and growth, to be successful; and the sooner 



