184 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



\^ April, 



and we saw fertile fields, and fruitful vineyards 

 and orchards, and gay gardens, and the tokens 

 of new industries. We landed at Marysvillc, 

 December 7th. Geraniums and Oleanders were 

 common inhahitanta of the gardens, roses were 

 in bloom, oranges on the trees, and huge Cacti 

 looked over the fences. In the vegetable gar- 

 dens young peas and lettuce and radishes were 

 growing side by side with mature vegetables, 

 cabbages and beets, &c. One would be puzzled 

 to decide the season by the eye alone. The dis- 

 tant hills bore the tints of Autumn, and the frosty 

 nights seemed like September or October; the 

 early vegetables and springing grass looked like 

 Spring, while the hot mid-day and the gay gar- 

 dens are like mid-summer. Everything seems 

 to be done difl'erently here. Instead of the mixed 

 farming of the East, each farm or " ranch " 

 seems to be devoted to some specialty. I saw a 

 lady at Marysville whose husband owns a wheat 

 ranch of 1,500 acres. We saw stock farms of 

 equal and of greater extent, with thousands of 

 cattle, one " almond ranch," near Marysville, of 

 about 20,000 trees. The " dairy ranches " are 

 chiefly among the mountains, for the advantages 

 of cheap land, and cooler temperature. " Vir- 

 ginia Ranch," where we stayed four weeks, is a 

 fruit ranch, an elevated plain among the " foot 

 hills," as they call the lower tiers of mountains. 

 These grow nearly all of the fruits that flourish 

 in this favored land. 



HORTICULTURAL PROTECTION. 



BY W. II. W., READING, MASS. 



In the February number of the Gardener's 

 Monthly the Editor says : — " We do not want any 

 articles on the justice of (horticultural) protec- 

 tion. All that is granted. Of course, if anybody 

 denied that the principle of protection should be 

 applied to horticultural improvement,the burden 

 of proof would be on him. But it is not de- 

 nied." 



I am as much surprised as gratified at this 

 statement. I had supposed that many did deny 

 " that the principle ot protection should be ap- 

 plied to horticultural improvements." Mr. P. 

 Barry saj's \n Vr q Rural New Yorker for Jan. 9, 

 1869 : — " As a horticulturist I protest against 

 this movement, (to secure legislation in favor of 

 horticultural protection,) and hope that Congress 

 will pay no attention to it. The originators of 

 valuable varieties of fruits, grains or vegetables, 



have it in their power, now, to secure ample com- 

 pensation." 



That sounds to me as if Mr. Barry, at lea«t, 

 was then, if he is not now, opposed to horticul- 

 tural protection, not merely on tlie ground of its 

 impracticability, but on the ground of right. He 

 seems to me to claim that originators of new 

 fruits have no right to any additional legislation 

 in their behalf, for they can already secure with- 

 out it all the compensation for their improve- 

 ments to which they are fairly entitled. But if 

 I have misunderstood him and those whom I 

 had sujiposed to agree with him, I am glad to 

 know it. Certainly the Editor of the Gardener's 

 Monthly has had far better opportunities than I, 

 to learn the opinions of horticulturists upon this 

 subject, and the grounds on which those opin- 

 ions rest. And I gladly accept his testimony as 

 conclusive that " no one denies the justice of 

 horticultural protection." " No one denies that 

 the principle of protection should be applied to 

 horticultural improvements" if it can be. 



Thus far then we all stand together upon the 

 same ground. We are all agreed that the prin- 

 ciple of horticultural protection is just and right; 

 that equity requires the application of this prin- 

 ciple to new fruits as much as to new inventions. 



Then 7ve should all unite in an earnest endiavor 

 to put the principle into law. If it is an equitable 

 one, one that "should be applied to horticultural 

 improvements," then every one should favor an 

 honest attempt to embody the principle in suita- 

 ble legislation. True, difliculties may appear 

 and objections may be urged. But is that an 

 adequate reason for opposing what is acknow- 

 ledged to be just and right, or even for declining 

 to make any eflfort to attain what we acknow- 

 ledge ought to be attained? There are diflficul- 

 ties in the way of every reform. Objections may 

 be urged, and commonly are, against every at- 

 tempt to bring our laws into more complete har- 

 mony with the principles of equity. But surely 

 these facts do not justify opposition, or even in- 

 diff'erence to equitable and desirable progress ; 

 for if so, what progress would ever be made ? If 

 the priucij)/e of horticultural protection is right, 

 then let us all stand together on the side of the 

 right. 'Let us exert our united influence in favor 

 of an honest and earnest attempt to make the 

 right effective ; to surmount the practical diflfi- 

 culties, aid embody the equitable principle in 

 appropriate legislation. 



But to this it is replied that while in theory the 

 principle is sound, yet the difficulties in the waj 



