CRITIQUE ON THE APRIL HORTICULTURIST. 



557 



western prairies and broad oak openings, in 

 their wild, luxuriant estate, and then see 

 what floral treasures they will disclose ! 

 From earlist spring to latest autumn — from 

 the tiniest, trembling thing that shoots its 

 pale blossom through the young and reek- 

 ing grass — onward, through every week of 

 summer, in white, and blue, and red, and 

 yellow garniture — from dwarf to giant — 

 does the wild flower of the prairie bloom, 

 and wave, and sweep, in unmatched variety 

 and magnificence — redolent, too, of odors 

 most sweet, and arrayed in colors most gor- 

 geous. What a mine is here for the labors 

 of one who loves to investigate the floral 

 treasures of our country ! 



And the Kalmias and the Rhododendrons 

 which grow on every rocky, spongy, scrub- 

 by hill of the New England and Middle 

 States, covering, in their season, with rosy 

 clumps of blossoms, a thousand spots where 

 hardly a thing else will grow ! Beautiful 

 to the sight alone — their only drawback. 



" Full many a flower," the poets say, 

 '■Is born to blush unseen;" 

 But you, although you blush, are not 

 The flower the poets mean. 



So sung Halleck, twenty years ago and up- 

 wards, not to the Kalmia, but to quite an- 

 other sort of subject. If you want to see 

 the Kalmia in all its magnificence, go to 

 the mountains and hills of Pennsylvania, 

 and particularly to the valley of Wyoming, 

 " on Susquehanna's side," which Campbell 

 has filled with such delightful images — the 

 sweetest valley in all the world ! From 

 base to pinnacle, in the month of June, they 

 jut out among the crags, and over the 

 prominences, in one universel blush of rosy 

 grandeur. Did you ever, Mr. Downing, 

 travel along the valley, up or down the 

 banks of the Susquehanna? If not, you 

 have yet to see the most beautiful, pictu- 

 resque and varied river in America, in all 



its features and scenery, from its source in 

 the limpid Otsego, away down to the turbid 

 and briny Chesapeake. What beautiful 

 meadows ; what warm and sunny slopes ; 

 what picturesque hills, and magnificent 

 mountains, does it sweep, in its course of 

 swift, and still, and rippling, and glassy 

 waters ! " Thanks be to God for moun- 

 tains !" eloquently exclaims William How- 

 itt, in his most charming " Book of the 

 Seasons." Aye, and thanks, too, for the 

 lofty trees which clothe their sides and 

 crown their tops, and the broad rivers 

 which sweep their base, that William 

 Howitt never saw as we have them here 

 in America. But I must stop ; I am a great 

 way oflf my text, and will come down from 

 my stilts, and leave this " prose run mad " 

 for another time. 



Editorial Note to "the Critic Criticised.'''' 

 — "Jeffreys must allow us to show him that 

 he entirely misunderstands Mr. Davis' de- 

 sign." Certainly; I have mistaken the 

 " design " of Mr. Davis. In my simplicity 

 I did suppose a house should be the main, 

 or principal structure, and that a porch and 

 its gable should be an appendage. But I 

 find that I am so verdant as not to under- 

 stand the improved architecture of the times. 

 From Mr. Davis' explanation I find that the 

 " design " is " a porch and gable," with a 

 house, by ivay of appendage ! Very well ; 

 I'll try not to make another mistake of the 

 kind. 



Now, as we sometimes see houses with- 

 out a porch and gable, which have answered 

 a very valuable purpose, how would it do 

 to build a porch and gable without the ap- 

 pendage of a house, and see how that 

 would answer? But, without joking, I am 

 yet so much of a novice that I can't help 

 thinking the house itself should be the chief 

 structure, and all the appendages subordi- 

 nate to it. I'll drop the subject. (You 



