32 



THE GARDENER'S .VOXTIILY 



[January. 



one, and society regards it as its interest to 

 give that man a title to that which he im- 

 proves ; and it is tlien his to sell, to give or to 

 deed to others. 



But we started to recognize a riglit and title 

 to land which was never improved. There 

 was nothing in nature, or in any society law of 

 riglit wliich gave a man Avho merely ran wild 

 over a piece of land a title to it. But we pre- 

 tended to believe there was ; and we gave beads, 

 red rags and other little things, to cover up 

 our sham belief. 



If the Indians do anything to make the land 

 of any more value than when it came fresh 

 fi-om the hand of nature, tliat value should be 

 just the measure in which they should be paid. 

 They have no other rights, or ought to have. 

 But the trouble is we have taught them differ- 

 ently, and it requires superior statemanship to 

 deal with the question, and do justice to all. 

 —Ed. G. M.] 



The Superintendents of Public Gar- 

 dens. — J. says : " You hit the nail square upon 

 the liead when you say that the most perfect 

 machinery is the most liliely to win, and so 

 reasoned a neighbor of mine who has been 

 many years in Select Council. He told me 

 that to be able to run understandingly with 



each and everj' " machine" in the city that he- 

 joined every secret oath-bound society in the 

 city. And now Mr. Editor, as you ajDpear per- 

 fectly satisfied that the superintendents of our 

 public parks are not the right men in the right 

 place; who are they, and who appointed them 

 to the position that they occupy? If they are 

 members of secret oath-bound societies, — which 

 you can easily find out, and which my experi- 

 ence in politics would say that they were— it 

 was not chance but a regular carried out policy 

 that i^ut them in over the heads of the worthy 

 diffident man who would rather lose the office 

 than join an illegal oath-bound society to gaiu 

 it." 



[Our correspondent, whom we know to be 

 one of the most worthy men who ever lived, 

 asks us a question ; but his own letter contains 

 the answer. It was the most perfect machinery, 

 which i^laced the incompetent men in charge 

 of the public gardens. They who would have 

 better men, must i^erfect machinery, and have 

 competent engineers to run it, if they would 

 have their desires resijected. The trouble in 

 all these questions seems to be that the fleet 

 hares knowing that they ought to win, lie 

 down and sleep, while the miserably slow tor- 

 toises keep pegging away, and get in first at 

 last.— Ed. G. M.] 



Horticultural Societies. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



January Meetings. — A large number of 

 State Societies hold meetings in January, and 

 we should be glad to call attention to them if 

 we received the notifications in time. All Ave 

 have before us as we write are those which 

 follow. 



Kentucky State Horticultural. Society 

 meets at Shelby ville on January 13th, 14th and 

 loth. T. S. Kennedy is President ; J. Decker, 

 Secretary, Fern Creek. We have no further 

 particulars. 



Neav York Horticultural Society.— 

 They meet at Republican Hall, 55 West 33d 

 .street. New York, on the first Tuesday of each 

 mouth. 



Pennsylvania Fruit Grower's Society, 

 — The next annual meeting of this Society will 

 be held in Bethlehem. Pa., on Wednesday and 

 Thursday, January 21st and 22d, 1880. Excur- 

 sion rates will be gi'anted from all points on 

 Philadeli^hia & Reading Rail Road, also hj 

 North Penn. and Bound Brook divisions from 

 Philadelphia and intermediate jDoints to Beth- 

 lehem and return. Tickets will be good from 

 Tuesday, Jan. 20th to Monday, Jan. 26th, in- 

 clusive. Excursion tickets can be obtained 

 only upon i^resentation of a printed order fur- 

 nished by the Companies, which, with other 

 information, can be had by addressing the Sec- 

 retary, E. B. Engle at Marietta, Pa. The 

 Society has not held a meeting in this section 

 of the .State for some years and an interesting 

 and profitable meeting may be expected. 



