18G 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[June, 



Prof. Cope to make the world believe that the 

 Academy did this very strange thing. But 

 every one acquainted with the Academy knows 

 that it is perfectly practicable for a member of 

 its councils to be absent six months or a year 

 without losing his seat, and they will also know 

 that when, notwithstanding this. Prof. Cope's 

 «eat was vacated, it shows that he has not told 

 the whole story. 



Equally short of the whole truth is the at- 

 tempts to make the world believe that Dr. Le 

 Conte favors his views and is dissatisfied with the 

 working of the Academy, when it is well known 

 that the present administration of the Academy 

 has no warmer friend than Dr. Le Conte. 



Further, it is said " one of our rising young 

 naturalists has been relieved of the scholarship 

 which was endowed by A. E. Jessup, and which 

 paid a small salary, without the offer of an 

 equivalent place." This is equally remarkable 

 for the inference left to be drawn through not 

 telling the whole truth. The fund provides that 

 beneficiaries shall have its advantages for two 

 years. At the end of that term there happened 

 to be no suitable applicant, atfd the excellent 

 Mr. Ryder was offered a continuance until an 

 acceptable successor should arise. He was, in- 

 deed, four years on the fund instead of the two 

 promised, and, much to the regret of the Acad- 

 emy, it had "no equivalent place to offer him." 



But the most singular fact is that Prof. Cope 

 ■should feel justified in using a public magazine 

 like the Naturalist to attack a private institu- 

 tion, for the Academy has no endowment for its 

 maintenance. Some five hundred members pay 

 $10 a year, and there are some life members of 

 $100 each. These pay to support in their own 

 way their own private property; what they do 

 for science is their own free and voluntary gift. 

 An immense majority of them have voted down 

 Prof. Cope's ideas of management, and in con- 

 sequence, he appeals to the public for the sym- 

 pathy which the Academy denies him, just as he 

 would be justified in doing were it a public in- 

 ■stitution and it was squandering the public 

 funds. 



There have been some small sums left to the 

 Academy for special purposes, at various times, 

 but it will surprise many readers to know 

 that, while Prof. Cope would have it do things 

 which only richly-endowed institutions do, it has 

 ■maintained its well-known reputation over the 

 -world, with its large museum and magnificent 

 library of over 20,000 scientific volumes, on an 



annual income of about $6,000 a year; a great 

 portion of which has to go for city expenses '. 

 Indeed, so far from the public having any right 

 to criticise their work, the most of the noble re- 

 sults reached here have been from the individual 

 labors of the members, as well as from their in- 

 dividual cash. The magnificent herbarium of 

 the Academy, unequalled, perhaps, in the 

 United States outside of Cambridge, in its 

 arrangement and care i.s the result of the 

 free labor of Pickering, Bridges, Durand, Burk, 

 Dift'enbaugh, Parker, Redfield, and some others, 

 at odd times, with little more cost to the insti- 

 tution than gas-light. And what is true of the 

 Botanical is true of other departments. One 

 would suppose that Prof. Cope might mention 

 some of these facts in his tirades, — but then we 

 may suppose a good many other things. 



S. Sands. — IS'ow and then we read of some 

 one whom, it is said, " brain-work" has killed ; 

 but we have always doubted whether the sound, 

 legitimate use of the brain was any more trying 

 to life than any other kind of labor. In the ag- 

 ricultural and horticultural press we have scores 

 of men, not enervated by the excessive use of 

 spirits and stimulants, who have had the pen 

 continuously in hand for an incredible number 

 of years, and are as bright and strong on their 

 approach to four-score as any dunderhead could 

 be. We have lately noticed P. R. Freas, of the 

 Germantown Telegraph, an editor for fifty years, 

 without a week's intermission. And now we 

 may note Samuel Sands, of the American Farmer, 

 who has recently passed his eightieth year, and 

 gives promise of many more days of usefulness. 

 It is pleasant to notice so many instances where 

 the days are long in the land of those who de- 

 vote themselves to such unselfish work. 



Intelligent Florists and Landscape 

 Gardeners. — Referring to the Editorial l!^'ote 

 in our last, a correspondent from Rome, 

 Georgia, says : " I read with much interest your 

 recent editorial on this subject. It is just our 

 situation here. I have long desired the services 

 of an intelligent landscape gardener, but have 

 failed to find one within reasonable distance." 

 We may repeat what we said last month, that 

 there never was a better time in the history of 

 our country, for men of general intelligence, 

 gentlemanly deportment, with a thorough know- 

 ledge of the finer branches of their business, and 

 a small capital, so that they can afford to hold 

 on a little while till their talents become known. 



