CRITIQUE ON THE JUNE HORTICULTURIST. 



67 



ses stuck up like the " four and twenty fid- 

 dlers all in a row," on fifty-foot lots, as you 

 say, and looking for all the world as nice and 

 uniform as a shop-keeper's shelves with their 

 shining wares so spruce and gingerly upon 

 them. Well, I suppose the people like it, 

 and there is no other way but to let them suf- 

 fer — for enjoy them they cannot; that is alto- 

 gether out of the question ; and as some folks 

 take a great deal of comfort in being misera- 

 ble, why, let them do as they like. You may 

 talk, my good sir — and I am glad to hear you 

 — as long as you please, but such people don't 

 read you ; and if they did, three out of four 

 could not understand what you meant. 



Plough Notes from the West. — I hope Dr. 

 Kennicott will preach a little good sense into 

 the people on the subject of substituting good 

 fruits for apothecary shops, as articles of diet. 

 No subject will better bear handling. 



As to your farmer schools, Dootor, you've 

 got to hannner more tact into our farmers' 

 heads than they have yet shown, either in le- 

 gislation or election, before you'll work them 

 up to a right understanding of their own in- 

 terests. The demagogues and politicians have 

 had it all their own w^ay thus far, and so they 

 are like to have it for a long while to come, 

 unless somebod.y wakes up suddenly. 



As to the " Bureau," Gen. Taylor has 

 shown his proper estimate of the importance 

 of intelligent agriculture, in proposing it, and 

 Mr. EwiNG his correct appreciation of the 

 true interests of the country in enforcing the 

 measure, to Congress. But who supposes 

 that the present Congress — the most fruitful 

 in abortions yet seen — will do any thing for 

 any interest beyond their own aggrandizement 

 or the gratification of their own selfish objects? 

 — No, answer. 



A Letter to Ladies in Toim. — 



'• To tliee, my Flower, wliose breath was given 

 By milder genii," 



it may beunembarrassing that I am not a young 



man, persuasive and accomplished, instead of 

 a gouty grandfather, merging into the " sear 

 and yellow leaf;" for there would be a brisk 

 chance of a proposal, and, in answer, most 

 likely a — refusal, as soon after I could car- 

 ry my spruce figure into New England, as eti- 

 quette Avould permit. But such contingency 

 past, I can only express my pleasure to find 

 one of the gentler sex — God bless them all ! 

 — " coming over to Macedonia to help us." 

 The first music of the song-sparrow in spring, 

 or the rich melody of the summer oriole, is 

 not more welcome — and oh, how sweet the7j 

 are! — than such heart-stirring notes in the 

 Horticulturist. Write again, and often, my 

 charming friend. Your auditory " is legion." 

 And such a field no missionary — I speak it 

 with reverence — this side the Caffrce country, 

 has for his gathering. 



Coal Cinders for Pear Trees. — " Keep it 

 before the people," as tlie politicians say. 

 What is continually around us, is the last 

 thing we see, or think of. Now here are not 

 only hundreds but thousands t)f loads of cin- 

 ders and ashes dumped daily into the rivers 

 from our goodly city, as well as from most of 

 the great towns all over the country, thrown 

 away or buried, that would feed all the pear 

 trees in cultivation, while thousands of dollars 

 are annually spent to get rid of them, when 

 but a trifle more expense would put them to 

 excellent use. Do keep stirring up these ev- 

 ery-day subjects, and show the public that the 

 enriching material which they so expensively 

 seek, is a perpetual nuisance under their feet 

 and noses. 



The Good Effects of Mulching. — I am go- 

 ing to tell you a story about mulching, by 

 and by, if I live — provided present prospects 

 don't blast before that time — that will en- 

 lighten somebody, and probably no one more 

 than myself. I've tried an experiment in 

 that way the past spring, which will settle the 

 virtues of this doctrine most thoroughly. 



