1876.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



345 



B 



ITERATURE, ? JrAVELS & p^ERSONAL WOTES. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Thwack Raspberry. — We never go out 

 of our course to notice what people say in ad- 

 vertisements ; but in relation to the Thwack 

 raspberry, the circular was brought to. our im- 

 mediate attention, and we were asked to say 

 what we thought of it. We thought we spoke 

 very well of the fruit, as far as we could speak 

 of a thing we had never seen, and we coupled 

 our praise with a little friendly advice — friendly 

 as we thought — about extravagant expressions. 

 In this, as well as in most advertisements, we 

 really think that over-praise injures a good 

 thing. Mr. Foster, who is President of the Pike 

 County (Mo.) Horticultural Society, and, as we 

 believe, every way a highly honorable and es- 

 timable gentleman, does not seem to see our 

 point. He imagines the object was to injure 

 and not to help his fruit, and so he sends us the 

 following letter : 



" The Thwack is not ' said to be very good ' by 

 some, ' but is said to be best by all ' who have 

 tested it, and the number is large. Our 'state- 

 ments are not ' loose,' unless the best men in the 

 State of Missouri and Illinois are wholly untrust- 

 worthy, and have loaned the sanction of their 

 names to palm off a swindle upon the public; 

 and besides our raspberry is not a ' very good 

 thing ' but a choice new fruit. Sorry you con- 

 sider it a thi7ig ! " 



We think there cannot be many who interpreted 

 our remarks unfavorably of the raspberry, as Mr. 

 Foster himself has done; and that it is hardly 

 necessary for us to "rise to explain;" but lest 

 there be, we beg to say that we had not the re- 

 motest idea of condemning the raspberry. Our 

 remarks had reference to the manner in which 

 advertisements are often worded. We thought 

 they would be better if worded differently, and 

 we hoped to be thanked rather than blamed for 

 the suggestion. It was but an opmion ; but if 

 our good friends think differently, we have no ob- 

 jection, only please do not ask us for an opinion of 

 a circular, and then feel badly because we honestly 

 give it. 



Postal Laws. — A correspondent writes that 

 we are wrong about the postal laws on seeds and 

 plants; that the obnoxious express rates of last 



season have been repealed, and that his post- 

 master receives things from him at the rate of 

 one cent for two ounces. 



Notwithstanding all this, we assure our corres- 

 pondent that the Express companies' law of last 

 season is not repealed, and that post-master of his 

 his may get him and himself into trouble one 

 of these days. More than this, we do not be- 

 lieve the people are strong enough to defeat the 

 Express companies in this matter. They can 

 afford to keep men at Washington to explain 

 their side of the case ; the People have no rep- 

 resentative. We do not believe the stories of 

 the sensational newspapers that members of Con- 

 gress are bought up to vote in these and other 

 instances. These men, many of whom we 

 know, are as honorable as any other body of 

 men, and such charges are as a rule, but the 

 outpourings of spite and evil dispositions ; but 

 we mean that plausible arguments and repre- 

 sentations on one side against little or nothing, 

 on the other, are bound to tell in the long run, 

 and this is the advantage the companies have 

 over us all. Even more, it may after all be good 

 national policy, as well as to the advantage of 

 the Express companies, to have the law as it is, 

 but so far as we understand, it does not seem so. 

 If any of our readers have undoubted facts and 

 figures to bear on this question we would will- 

 ingly publish them, and we think a good tem- 

 pered article in our columns would have weight 

 at Washington. We do not want mere newspa- 

 per statements or newspaper figures ; these can 

 be made to prove any side. But what is wanted 

 is to show that mailing seeds, cuttings, plants, &c., 

 is not merely a benefit to horticulture, but is 

 no serious loss to the Post-Office Department. 



The Gardener's Monthly. — An Iowa corres- 

 pondent says : — " The September number of the 

 Gardener's Monthly is a fine number. I am glad 

 to see by the continued improvement of the 

 magazine, that it is in a prosperous condition. 

 It certainly deserves it." 



[All such kind notices please the publisher, 

 who is very grateful for the encouragement. We 

 may say that there has been a gradual increase 

 of subscribers since the war, but nothing near to 

 the extent there would be if the magazine were 

 agricultural instead of horticultaral ; for where 



