CIUTIQUE ON JUNE UORTICCLTURIST. 



CRITIQUE ON THE JUNE HORTICULTURIST. 



Genikman Farnu'in/. — Very pleasant to talk altoiit — that is, to those who know 

 notliinj; at nil abont larniinir, cither " pcntlemanly" or vul^i^arly. After exhaust- 

 ing " Lorain,'' read the " Sparrowgrass Papers." I have witnessed sundry editions 

 of frentlenianly fanning which didn't last a great while, and ending either in dis- 

 gust, with a suuiniary tiirowing-np of the oeeupation, or toning down into a i)rac- 

 tical, positive reality, like any other business in which a man proposed to make an 

 honest livelihood. 



Wonderful ideas many people liave of the profession of farming ! A deal of 

 poetry and imagination, into which arc intermingled Sylphs and Dryads; Phyl- 

 lisses and Damons ; shepherds' crooks, cottage girls, and country swains ; inno- 

 cent birds, bleating lambs, and various other romantic dreamings. But it is won- 

 derful to find how soon these delectable images of agricultural bliss become spirited 

 away on the trial. If a man have fifty thousand dollars well invested, on which 

 he can draw punctual semi-annual dividends at six or eight per cent., then put 

 himself and family on to a farm, well conditioned in all particulars, and children 

 well-behaved, and not over-extravagant in their notions, and, moreover, a fjood 

 uun/s out of toicn, lie may, possibly, with a good deal of hard and vexatious labor, 

 bring the year about at " gentleman farming." Otherwise, like the cobbler, he 

 had " better stick to his last." 



AVhy don't we hear of gentleman printers, gentleman merchants, gentleman 

 doctors, gentleman editors, and gentleman everything else in the professional and 

 business pursuits of life ? Simply because every profession or calling in the world 

 which amounts to anything, and by which men get their living, is followed in 

 earnest, and those who engage in them, lay their whole talents and labors into the 

 work, whatever it be. The great, popular mistake of those who talk of gentle- 

 manly ^Sivmmg is, that they suppose the practical farmer to be a boor, of necessity, 

 and that his calling is a vulgar one, unfit for an educated mind ; yet, when subli- 

 mated by intelligence, education, and refined associations, may be made respect- 

 able ! "Gentleman farming" is a rank humbug, as any other profession or trade 

 would be, followed in the same fashion — that is, by hanging out a sign, furnishing 

 the shop, store, office, or other establishment, with its stock in trade, library, or 

 what not, and then leaving the students, clerks, and shop-boys to take care of it, 

 while the principal goes about the streets, talking politics, spending his daylight 

 at the bar-room, sucking down brandy-smashes and mint juleps, or fooling away 

 his time in any other nonsense. That is the " gentleman" way of doing any sort 

 of business, " farming," or otherwise. The upshot of the matter is, a man may 

 be a gentleman in any calling which demands the exercise of brains, ingenuity, 

 and industry. I never yet knew a useful profession which demanded low intellect 

 or clownish manners as a qualification for its pursuit. 



Biota Orientalis, and other items, pp. 252-255. — I don't know anything about 

 thera. 



Carriage- House and Stable for a Small Cottage. — A capital plan. The floor 

 accommodations cannot be bettered ; yet, if the roof were steeper, and, instead of 

 being hipped, gables were run up at each end, the hay-loft would have twice the 

 room in it, and cost no more than the plan now given. Builders of such things 

 should always recollect that half the beauty connected with them is their utility 

 for the purposes to which they are designed. 



Flowers, and Botanical Notes. — "A thing of beauty is a joy forever," said 

 young Keats, who would have stayed in this troublesome world to the present 



