CRITIQUE ON THE MARCH HORTICULTURIST. 



are a million of trees to be planted, among probably a hundred thousand planters — certain 

 ly not a large number when so widely distributed. 



This is simply statistics; and probably loose, and underated at that. So we see, that 

 with all the pear plantations, we are not likely to be overstocked with fruit of this kind for 

 many years. Go on, gentlemen pear-growers. Like our first i)arents, when driven from 

 Eden, the wide world is before you, where to choose; and if you should, perchance, be 

 like to overstock the country, the blight and other troubles will be sure to relieve your 

 solicitude. The pear is too delicious a fruit to be free from deadly maladies, like the ap- 

 ple; and the full luxury of its bounties is not to be enjoyed without " much tribulation." 



Mr. A.'s " dozen varieties" may answer the purposes of some people, but I fancy few 

 pear growers will be content with such meager limits. "Variety is the spice of life," and 

 all the infinity of new varieties in pears will be tried, whether they have any " spice" in 

 them, or not, beyond the pungenc}^ of paying for & fancy article. 



The fate of his "Orange Pear" is not alone in the annals of pomological experience. 

 Among them he may find many parallels in the want of public appreciation of one's fa- 

 vorites, and possibly now and then a man who may have mentally recited the blubbering 

 lamentation of the boy, in companionship with Mr. A.'s non-classical extract: 

 " I never had a piece of toast 

 Particularly good and wide, 

 But fell upon the sanded floor, 

 And always on the buttered side." 



What will the Edifice costl — A very pertinent question, to which I never yet knew an 

 architect, or a builder, to give a correct answer. No one can read this extract without a 

 conviction that Mr. Cousin understands what he is writing about. Half of the misery 

 which arises from ambitious building, comes by underestimating the expense. If a rich 

 man applies to an architect, or builder, to furnish liim a plan and estimates, in some cases 

 — depending on the character of the said architect or builder — he will get a correct one. 

 In other cases, the applicant himself — screwing a bargain, as if buying a lot of unsaleable 

 goods, — insists upon the gratification of all his wants and all his fancies, and beats down 

 the price in everything to a degree of absolute meanness. His contractor, knowing his 

 man, goes to work. The employer, finding, in the progress of things, that he is to have 

 but a miserable clap-trap aifair, or to get a good house, must pay for it, and his feelings 

 and pride already enlisted in it, — or, worse than all, an insisting, persevering wife and 

 daughters at his back — I dislike to say a harsh thing of the gentler sex, but the}^ some- 

 times have the gift of persuasion to an eminent degree, — after an agony of hesitation, lets 

 loose the purse strings, and a riotous expenditure is the consequence. His troubles are now 

 perpetual, and at the conclusion, the question of what it has cost will never be out of his 

 mind. A successful man, who considers himself "cute" in his bargains, is apt to think, 

 when looking at his neighbor's house, which has cost him five, ten, or twenty thousand 

 dollars, as the case may be, that he by his own more adroit management may build one 

 equally good for half or two-thirds the money, not thinking that this matter of house- 

 building is out of his line. And so proceeds in the manner aboved stated. 



There are two or three principles of action connected with building, in which every man 

 about to build should be strongly fortified. First of all, he should know how much mo- 

 ney he is willing to spend. Next, he should a.scertain what sort of a structure, or struc- 

 tures, of a suitable kind, he can get for his money. Then, adopt a plan that will be com 

 plete within the amount of his appropriation, with twent3'-five to thirty-three per 

 added to the builder's estimate. And, lastly, not to be in a hurry 



