1880.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



63 



century. A change in the method of culture, in 

 the soil and season produced such an effect upon 

 the plants that they were scarcely recognizable 

 by our most learned experts. 



Similar temporary variations occur with all 

 kinds of fruits and plants, and the greatest hor- 

 ticulturist or botanist that ever lived is very like- 

 ly to be misled by them, and to pronounce old 

 and familiar plants to be new varieties. !N'o 

 such difficulties exist in the identifying of me- 

 chanical inventions, or even the principles of 

 mechanics, for the models, drawing, and speci- 

 fications can be placed on record for future 



reference." 



••-•• 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Editorial Courtesy. — " Critic" writes : 

 "Pardon my question, for I only write because 

 I know you like to have things just right, 

 and I would like to know why you refer to the 

 editor of the Country Gentleman as 'it,' as I note 

 in your last reference? Would it not sound 

 better to say he said this, or he said that, than 

 to refer to him as an 'it?' I am only this criti- 

 cal that I would like to know the reason, for I 

 take it for granted you have some explanation 

 you can give." 



[We have no certain means of knowing that 

 the editor of the Country Gentleman is a "he." 

 It may be that he is a " she." Again, we fanc}* 

 there are several editors to such a large weekly 

 paper as the Country Gentleman^ and these may 

 be a "he" and a "she," or several of such all 

 together. But the real reason why we used "it" 

 was because we had neither a " he" or a " she" 

 in our mind while speaking, but the paper itself, 

 which is neither a "he" nor a "she," but a paper. 

 That is to say, we referred to the paper, and not 

 to any one person in particular that conducts it. 

 In fact, it was really " it," and not any particular 

 " he" or " she" that we referred to. — Ed. G. M.] 



Advertisers and Readers.— The publisher 

 hands in a letter from -J. Q. A. D., of Owatonna, 

 Iowa, who indignantly orders his Monthly 

 "stopped." He ordered from one of the firms 

 advertising in our columns some "Pearl" tube- 

 roses. When they flowered he could not see 

 that they were difterent from the old kind, and 

 he will not "subscribe to any paper which ad- 

 mits advertisers of this kind into its columns." 

 We do not know even to which of the firms ad- 

 vertising in our columns he refers, but that a 



publisher should look into every article that 

 every firm sells, before such firm is allowed to 

 advertise, shows how mucli some people expect 

 for two dollars a year. On the other hand, there 

 are some who calculate how much tliey make by 

 reading the Gardener's Monthly, as well as 

 what they may lose by such an occurrence as the 

 other describes, and of such is the following from 

 St. Joseph, Missouri : 



" In past years we have had no end of trouble 

 with Verbenas, but after reading Mr. Peter Hen- 

 derson's article in the Gardener's Monthly, 

 on Verbena Rust, we gave them the treatment 

 he described, and now have 3000 of the finest 

 plants that one could wish. If we had had the 

 same result last year we should be many dollars 

 cash in pocket now." 



We fancy there is nothing in the world that is 

 an unmixed good. Such perfect experiences may 

 be had in Elysium, but hardly in the advertising 

 columns of even so careful a magazine as the 

 Gardener's Monthly. All we can hope for 

 is that the " profit" is largely ahead of the "loss" 

 account ; and we really believe there is no sub- 

 scriber but gets back his full two dollars' Avorth, 

 after allowance for all drawbacks. 



How TO Get Good Men into Public 

 Parks and Gardens.— E. writes : " In answer 

 to your problem, 'How to get the office to the 

 good man, who does not want it,' I may say, 

 every good man will accept a good office, but 

 may lack the low cunning to obtain it. The un- 

 fit man gets the office by the intrigue of other 

 interested persons, who expect to gain thereby. 



"The commissioners of the ]N'atioual Antie- 

 tam Cemetery, after interments in the centre 

 were over, and the large outer grounds were to 

 be embellished with trees, shrubs, and seeded 

 down with grass, etc., were anxious to get the 

 right man to plan and direct. They addressed 

 sixteen gardeners in different States, and pro- 

 pounded practical questions to all alike. After 

 all the answers had been received, the commis- 

 sioners met and read the answers. Twenty-five 

 out of the twenty-six commissioners voted for 

 Walter Elder of Philadelphia, and he got the 

 office. 



"If all other commissioners and corporators 

 were to do the same, every man would answer 

 for himself. Intrigue would not get in, and the 

 right man would likely get the good office. In 

 that way our ornamental horticulture would be- 

 become eminent and receive the credit it would 

 then deserve. Nurserymen would be benefited 



