6o 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[February, 



he has had many years of experience in farm 

 worlc, it is but ten years since he wrote his first ar- 

 ticle for pubhcation. To this, perhaps, may be 

 attributed the very clear, concise, and, yet 

 thoroughly grammatical style in which the work 

 is written. Though the book contains 1215 pages, 

 there is nothing repeated — nothing to tire one. A 

 series of capital indices afford a ready reference to 

 any item one wishes to consult. General farm 

 management is discussed in seventeen chapters, 

 and the live stock department in twenty-two ; while 

 in an appendix is given tables of figures relating 

 to farm work. 



Looking through the chapters it is remarkable 

 how little one who has had experience in the 

 science and practice of agriculture, will find to 

 criticise unfavorably. When the author tells us 

 that "the first essential to successful fruitgrowing 

 is common sense," most of us, who have been 

 teachers, know how true this is. The man who 

 merely tries to imitate just what another has done, 

 and then expects success, is always to be pitied. 

 Another excellent piece of advice to would-be far- 

 mer-fruit growers is, first to grow for their own 

 family supplies, and from this judge what is best 

 adapted to their soil, or what to their own experi- 

 ence; and again, to look at the prospect of a con- 

 venient and growing market for what they know they 

 can successfully grow and profitably ship. An- 

 other capital piece of advice to those looking for a 

 location for a farm or garden is, to see who are to 

 be their neighbors. No matter how good the soil, 

 how cheap the land, how well favored in every way 

 by nature the situation may be, avoid it as the ser- 

 pent, if hide-bound ignorance and stupidity pre- 

 vail. Suggestions about getting into debt for 

 farms, gardens, and homes in general are just to 

 our mind. The advice of many agricultural papers 

 never to get into debt, always seemed absurd to us. 

 No man ."itarting into life without capital can get 

 well off by his labor without debt, till he is old and 

 grey, if at all. Industry alone does not always 

 bring its rich reward. Ijut in getting into debt, as 

 in getting into fruit growing. " the first essential is 

 common sense." The Cyclopedia helps very well 

 to cultivate this essential in the process. 



One mistake, common to all works of this kind, 

 is to give long talks on the best varieties to culti- 

 vate. These are continually changing, and a book 

 which might by its solid contents be a text book 

 for generations, becomes out of date in a few years. 

 These should be placed in an appendix or left 

 wholly to nurserymen or seedsmen's catalogues. 

 The advice to never plant a fruit tree over one year 



old, is also old-fashioned, except as it may refer to 

 the peach. This may do where trees are cheaply dug, 

 with most of the roots left in the nursery, but the 

 mortality in carefully spade-dug trees four, five or 

 six years old, need be no greater than among seed- 

 ling transplanted trees, and two or three years 

 saved in the time a tree comes into bearing, is a good 

 deal in the mere speck of life given to a human 

 being. The chapter on fencing is scarcely down 

 to date. The author does not like them, because 

 of the annual expense of trimming. But he has 

 the Osage orange in mind. He forgets that since 

 the introduction of barbed wire fences, we do not 

 need strong growing plants like Osage orange. 

 With two or three strands of barbed wire, placed so 

 that plants will grow through them and hold them 

 in place, mere shrubs like Privet, Silverthorn, 

 Berberry, or even plants without spines, and which 

 may never be more than a few feet high, a good 

 and cheap live fence may be had that will never 

 need pruning, unless one is very particular to have 

 things neat and nice at some labor and cost. 



But the most unsatisfactory chapter is on Farm 

 Forestry. Only the black locust and soft maple are 

 referred to. The author deprecates many fences ; 

 but except for posts and stakes, of what earthly 

 use is the locust, after we get it, and, as for the soft 

 maple, even as firewood, it is not worth kindling, 

 against some other trees. But we must remember 

 that Forestry is as yet an unknown art in our coun- 

 try, notwithstanding the tons of government, state 

 and newspaper articles that have appeared about 

 it, and, hence, we must not expect too much from 

 a work like this. 



We have only to repeat that it is a truly excel- 

 lent, practical work, and will be well worthy of a 

 place as a book of reference in every farmer's and 

 fruit grower's library. 



Floral M.\gazines. — Though our Magazine 

 is conceded to cover a wider field than any simi- 

 lar publication in this country, we feel that much 

 of crur success is due to the excellent work done 

 by other contemporaries, in special departments 

 of that great occupation which we all love. 



Among the particularly useful serials, we may 

 name VtcA's Monthly, the Floral Cabinet, and 

 the American Garden, which in their special lines 

 are doing good work — fully equal to our own. In 

 a more limited field, perhaps, we may mention 

 Park's Floral Gazette and Seed- Time and Harvest, 

 as equally meriting patronage and support. 



They all have our best wishes and congratu- 

 lations, at the evidence they all exhibit of a 

 healthy and prolonged existence. 



