1879.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



345 



coat, approached, and very politely hoped Mon- i 

 sieur would not permit the walks to be dis- 

 figured. I could not help thinking of this inci- 

 dent as I took for a holiday once this season a 

 tour throifgh some of the Phihidelphia public 

 squares. It was at the end of June, at a 

 season of the year when nature is in her neatest 

 trim, and but very little effort from man is 

 needed to keep a garden in good order. There 

 were indeed no dead leaves from the trees, but 

 bits of paper from j)rovision baskets, letters and 

 newspapers, banana skins and pea-nut shells, and 

 dirt and lilth of every description covered the 

 smooth gravel walks, that in one small square 

 of perhaps five acres, I am sure a dozen cart- 

 loads of dirt could have been swept up on that 

 bright and clear June day, from the few walks 

 alone. To reflect a little on the difference be- 

 tween a French and an American "square," 

 I sought a seat. I found at length a round post 

 the top of which once had been about eighteen 

 inches over, but which had now some four 

 inches of its width split off on each side, expos- 

 ing the nails which had once been on the di- 

 viding line, and the narrow piece of this once 

 mushroom stool tliat was left was so racked and 

 splintered by jack-knives, that some future anti- 

 quary might I'egard it as having had some re- 

 markable meaning in a past age. With some 

 care to keep the nail-heads from making work 

 for my tailor, I commenced to take stock in the 

 park ornaments. A huge "bird box" for the 

 English sparrows lirst met my eye. It was 

 made to represent some great building, but 

 whether the Philadelphia Alms-house, Cherry 

 Hill Prison, the State Lunatic Asylum, or the 

 Capitol at Harrisburg, I could not well deter- 

 mine. However, the windows were very nu- 

 merous, but i>ad no glass, for the birds had to go 

 in and out as if they were doors. Possibly in 

 this house there were excellent kitchen and 

 other arrangements, with the bed rooms and 

 furniture to maitch, but I took only time to note 

 that this pretty piece of architecture had given 

 a good job to some poor dog of a carpenter and 

 painter ; but the point was marred by the reflec- 

 tion that after this much in charity had been 

 done the money had probably run out, for a very 

 light pole had been provided to set this pretty 

 toy on without thought of its great weight, so 

 four or five shores had to be provided to prop 

 up the whole. But the rough shores propping 

 up the handsome house was ludicrous in the ex- 

 treme, though all in keeping with the rest of 



the surroundings. On tlie other side of me was 

 another tall post which at one time had some 

 evident pretentions to artistic taste. It had a 

 board nailed to it at the top, and on this a piece 

 of rusty tin. The nails had drawn tlienisolves 

 out by age in one corner, and tlic tin turned up. 

 In one or two places a little japamiiiig was left, 

 and the remainder of a few golden letters were 

 seen here and there. In one case I made out these 

 words, "dogs run," but even here the g had part of 

 its tail peeled off. Near the centre was an officer's 

 watch-box, and around it a few bushes which 

 had evidently been intended to screen disagree- 

 able things, but they made no screen. Here in 

 full sight was a pile of old iron ; and there were 

 old wheel-barrows, old ladders, heaps of dirt, 

 rotten grass, and old lumber of every descrip- 

 tion. Dead trees had been taken out, and in- 

 stead of the earth being neatly replaced and 

 levelled, or better resodded, it remained as 

 rough heaps which some charitable weeds had 

 endeavored to ornament. "Wherever there was 

 an opening between the trees, some one the Fall 

 before had stuck in some score of Norway 

 Spruces, and then to protect them from some 

 fancied trouble had piled up several inches thick 

 of fresh stable manure, the salt from which of 

 course had killed them all ; and there they were, 

 these poor dead Norways, looking like brooms 

 provided for the sweeping of the walks, but 

 with none to make use of them. In the mid- 

 dle of this unfortunate " park " was a " foun- 

 tain " and "basin," which had evidently cost 

 some money in its time. In the basin at 

 regular distances were four large black ma.sses 

 of earth as I supposed, and I was really glad, 

 for I thought it was an attempt to introduce 

 water lilies, and even this little show of care 

 was pleasing; but imagine my disgust when 

 I at length discovered that it was simply the 

 accumulation- of weeks of filth around waste 

 pipes. Around this basin once on a time there 

 was an attempt at gardening, and a rather neat 

 iron fence kept off the trespasser. Now weeds 

 of the vilest character occupied the ground. A 

 few Fellenberg roses were still struggling through 

 the grass; there were also a few stocks of some 

 old fashioned Flag, and there was one Geranium 

 and one Lantana. Almost all the maple trees 

 and the horse chestnuts had been skeletonized 

 by the caterpillars of the Orgyia moth, though 

 this insect deposits its eggs in large masses only 

 on the rough bark of trees where they can be 

 easily destroyed, and the ground filth of the 



