532 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



perhaps, they emanate from some illustrious ama- 

 teur, who can make an ostentatious boast of being 

 the possessor oi' " line oaks, broad fields, and 

 brood marcs." But it is very doubtful whether 

 any animadversion, however satirical or severe, 

 will be effectual in preventing the development of 

 a mure scientific system of horticulture, whether 

 the principles upon which it is founded emanate 

 from the chemist in his laboratory, or the more 

 humble tiller of the soil. The days are now gone 

 by, when Learning is confined to the cloister, and 

 science within the precincts of the college. 

 There is a species of knowledge which, like the 

 instinct of animals, may act within a limited 

 sphere with apparent uniformity; but which, how- 

 ever, is more amusing than useful, and may often 

 induce us to admire what we cannot approve. 

 But learning and skill form a happy combination, 

 and seldom fail in securing the support of those 

 who can appreciate their value — a support suffi- 

 ciently powerful to set at defiance both scorn and 

 scrutiny. Whatever some of our would-be horti- 

 cultural critics may think, it is nevertheless true, 

 that the mind is more enlightened on any art by 

 practice, than by mere study; and its advance- 

 ment is always hindered by an unquestioned sub- 

 mission to dictatorial decisions. 



On horticultural matters, almost every person 

 has, or pretends to have, a smattering of know- 

 ledge; and it is generally those who have least, 

 that are most ambitious to exhibit the little they 

 possess; and they are also most reluctant in their 

 concessions to those who have more. When wc 

 reflect how comparatively little the most enlight- 

 ened can boast of, and how much must necessarily 

 elude the diligence of the most vigilant observer, 

 what can we think of the judgment of a critic who 

 sets up his opinion against ninety-nine hundreths 

 of the practical, and the undivided testimony of 

 the scientific men at the present day, merely be- 

 cause he had found the roots of a willow tree in a 

 wall, twenty feet from its stem, — having pene- 

 trated through stiff clay, — when the slightest con- 

 sideration would show him, that this fact proved 

 the position which he has questioned? In the 

 December No., p. 272, we have an article on 

 grapevine borders. In a subsequent number, this 

 article is encomiastically extolled as the produc- 

 tion of learning and experience by your criticising 

 correspondent. He says it is something new, and 

 thanks the writer for broaching a new subject — a 

 subject which has been broached by every theo- 

 retical and practical scribbler, weekly and month- 

 ly, from the days of Speechlv down to the pre- 

 sent. 



In the article referred to, " Hoar's Treatise on 

 the Vine," is quoted, as a standard work in Eng- 

 land on that subject. This is one of numerous in- 

 stances within my knowledge, of people in this 

 country being led astray by English works. The 

 treatise in question is scarcely known, or the sys- 

 tem practiced by half a dozen cultivators in the 

 kingdom ; and were any one to travel from Corn- 



wall to Caithness, on a mission of inquiry, he 

 would not find the number of cultivators I have 

 staled who know anything of the system; and none 

 at all who practice it. If, however, by any one, it 

 is only as the absurd whimsy of a man who knew 

 nothing of vine culture, and who fancied other 

 people knew less than himself. If impracticable 

 in England, it would be doubly so here. The re- 

 marks of your correspondent upon this system, 

 show plainly that he is not a man of practice; 

 and his irrelevant analogy between the roots of 

 plants and the stomachs of animals, would also 

 induce us to believe he was not a man of science. 

 With regard to the critique upon the same arti- 

 cle, in a subsequent number, it savors too much of 

 twaddle to be worthy of comment. 



In horticultural matters, every man ought to 

 purpose to himself the highest degree of excel- 

 lence, which circumstances may render it possible 

 for him to attain; and in his pursuit of excellence, 

 he w T ill frequently be urged to adopt expedients 

 which more extended experience and inquiry will 

 prove to be absurd. It frequently happens that 

 mere make-shifts and expedients are magnified 

 into inventions, and are published and applauded 

 to the world, before they are ascertained to be 

 improvements. The purely practical man is very 

 often bewildered in the mazes of conflicting opi- 

 nions, which might be clearly illustrated by a 

 simple fact, providing the fact and the illustra- 

 tion together, are not both obscured by a maze of 

 metaphysical sophistry. He is no less non-plussed, 

 however, when insignificant facts are subtilized 

 beyond exactness, and trifling evidence dilated be- 

 yond practical perspicuity. Our horticultural lite- 

 rature is justly blamed for these errors, and the 

 art suffers from their effects. In the present tran- 

 sitory and undefined state of our horticultural 

 knowledge, — knowing the uncertainty of conjec- 

 ture, and the scantiness of substantial evidence, on 

 any point of practice, arising from the effects of 

 locality' and climate, or from deficiency of skill, — 

 knowing, also, the difficulty of discovering at 

 all times the causes of failure, and the certain 

 means of avoiding it. and the liability of the most 

 proficient to fall into errors, — it is, I think, no dis- 

 grace to a critic, whatever his pretensions, to 

 leave obscurities, which he does not understand, 

 to happier industry and more diligent inquirers. 



In recording our experience for the benefit of 

 others, the multiplicity is less to be relied on or 

 considered, than the power of the facts that are 

 adduced. When trifling facts arc accumulated, 

 without necessity, they weaken the force, instead 

 of strengthening a general principle. How often 

 are facts laid before us, founded on conjecture, 

 and drawn from infinitisimal deductions, which 

 nature herself will hardly recognize; and how 

 often arc eloquent arguments used to support 

 facts which practical investigation sinks into no- 

 thingness. Many people who amuse themselves 

 with horticultural matters, though zealous enough, 

 are nevertheless incautious and unskilful in their 



