CHICAGO, HORTICULTURALLY. 



461 



pate the congregated malarias and cack- 

 odorous effluvias of the city, seething under 

 August fires, and brace up the languishing 

 denizens with new vigor and elasticity. 

 But oh the spring ! We may as well say 

 we have none. We make numerous at- 

 tempts at one annually ; but every notch 

 we get forward has its offset of a slip or 

 two backward, till somehow or other it gets 

 to be summer. These northern gales frown 

 down on us, reeking with the breath of 

 polar bears and icebergs, for days together, 

 blasting our tender plants, and our hopes 

 together. The following is not an unusual 

 " programme of exercises," for any number 

 of cycles each year : First, come two days 

 of south wind, — the mercury rapidly going 

 up to 75^ and 85^ Fahrenheit, calling forth 

 the tender leaves prematurely, — the ground 

 yet as cold as November. Then, short as 

 the crook of your elbow, are six days of 

 north wind, — the mercury falling to 38° 

 and 45°. Oh, horror ! Now look to your 

 starting vegetation. But this is not all. 

 The north wind brings a rain. The water 

 comes in an avalanche, and the fine soil 

 drinks, and holds it with the eagerness of 

 a toper. Now come two days more of south 

 wind and heat. Your poor tree stands 

 with its feet in the ice, and its head in the 

 fire. If it, or its ancestors, have been crossed 

 with the northern seal, and the salamander 

 both, it may live. 



You are perhaps ready now to say, that 

 we may as well give up all ideas of horti- 

 culture. Not so. We are managing, with 

 all these disabilities, to get many and most 

 of the best fruits grown, while the choicest 

 plums known to eastern gardens, year by 

 year, find their way into our midst. In 

 the city, fences, buildings, and trees shield 

 us partially from the winds. "Hilling up," 

 gives us a dry, warm soil ; and an abun- 

 dance of manures, such as all cities fur- 



nish, with the sand of the lake shore, gives 

 a rich one. Farther out, diligent surface 

 draining, by throwing the land into ridges, 

 with trees and fences, effect the same 

 thing in a degree. Thus, by protection, 

 where we can, and compensation when we 

 cannot, we manage to carry our points. 



Besides, our autumns are such as eastern 

 people only dream of, or get in fitful snatch- 

 es, just to sharpen their appetite for more. 

 Serene mild days, joining hands through 

 October and November, smile upon u^ 

 year by year ; and if they fail, as the past 

 season they did, we know that it is through 

 forgetfulness, and that they will return with 

 returning autumn. It was during such 

 days, that a somewhat poetic friend, on 

 the banks of the beautiful Rock river, be- 

 fore they were spoiled by white men's hou- 

 ses and potato patches, remarked, "that 

 this seemed the sort of air, and this the 

 region, where angels might come down 

 to dance away the happy hours." My only 

 doubt was, whether these beings did any 

 dancing at all! I have no "authentic ac- 

 counts" that they do. 



Apples here grow with a thrift peculiar 

 to the northern country. But a few, as 

 yet, have got into bearing ; but these show 

 us that we need fear nothing from compe- 

 tition. We shall succeed, not only with 

 the summer and fall varieties, but with the 

 harder and long keeping fruits, which evince 

 an effeminacy and weakness when grown 

 in the milder regions of the south. 



Pears are just beginning to show their 

 fruits ; and we shall have nothing to fear 

 for them. The tree grows and bears as 

 well here as anywhere. 



Plums have been fruited for several 

 years, in many of the choice varieties. In 

 thrift of tree, productiveness, and delicacy 

 of flavor, we have nothing now to wish. 

 The little pirate of the crescent, the curcu. 



