64 



THE GARDENER'S MONTH L Y 



[February, 



Lines on a Head of Cabbage.— The best poets 

 are often familiar with numerous branches of 

 science; on the other hand men devoted to 

 science are not unfrequently gifted with the 

 poet's fire. Prof. T. C. Porter, the distin- 

 guished botanist, was known as the " plant- 

 presser" in his earliest years. The following 

 lines, quoted from Lafayette College Journal, 

 written when but seventeen years old, shows 

 a love for the Muses quite as worthy of re- 

 cognition as wasi^his other love : 



Let frog-devouring France and beef-fed Bull 



Disdain thee, Cabbage, when their mouths are full ; 



Let laay Neapolitan discard. 



Who eats his macaroni by the yard ; 



And Chinese gourmand think that dish the best 



Which savors of the swallow's gluey nest ; 



Or, brought from distant ocean-isles, prefer 



The relish of the costly biche-de-mer; 



I^t Abyssinian cut the quivering flesh 



From the live heifer and devour it fresh. 



While Alpine monk esteems the slimy snail 



Above the juice of broccoli or kale; 



Let Paddy whistle at the very thought 



Of nevi paratees boiling in the pot. 



And Yankee tell, with rapture in his eye, 



The varied virtues of the pumpkin pie — 



But, as for me, sprung of Teutonic blood, 



Give me the cabbage as the choicest food. 



O far-famed Sauer Kraut ! compared with thee, 



All dainties rifled from the land and sea 



Were heaps of trash, and viands on the boards 



Of prodigal Lucullus, or the hoards 



Of which renowned Apicius could boast. 



Detestably insipid— and the host 



That followed Epicurus, at the best. 



Mere common swine, unpampered and unblest.* 



Had but the gods on high Olympus' brow 

 Caught thy rich odor wafted from below, 

 Loathing as bitter their celestial bread. 

 They all in haste to Germany had fled. 



What gave the fierce Barbarian strength to wield 

 His ponderous weapon on the battle-field. 

 When from the North his brawny right arm hurled 

 A bolt of vengeance o'er the Roman world? 

 Thy hidden power, O matchless Cabbage, thine. 

 Dweller upon the Danube and the Rhine. 



Ye vain philosophers of titled worth. 



Go to this lowly denizen of eaith. 



And read a lesson from his furrowed leaves ; 



Their words are truth ; that volume ne'er deceives. 



Castles and monuments have passed away. 



Pillars and temples crumbled to decay. 



Leaving no trace behind them to proclaim 



To after ages their possessor's fame. 



While on his brow unfaded yet appears 



The wrinkled wisdom of six thousand years. 



I love thine honest countenance, old friend ; 

 My earliest mem'ries with thy history blend, 



•Me pingnem et nitidum bene curata cute vises, 

 Epicuri de grege porcum. Hor. Ep. 1-4 : 16. 



And Hallow Eve, free to the wile and plot 

 Of boyish cunning, cannot be forgot; 

 The ringing shout, the merry laugh and cheer, 

 Still and will ever linger in mine ear. 



May never he who slanders thy good name 

 Have hi.s recorded on the scroll of fame ! 

 May he ne'er taste thee, whose proud looks (l^spwe. 

 But Time increase thine honor as he flien I 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Paw-paw, Michigan.— E. A. Dodge says : " In 

 relation to ' Paw-paw,' Michigan, I can say it 

 was named after the Papaw fruit which I have 

 seen growing there very luxuriously. Why it 

 came to be spelled Paw-paw I cannot tell." 



" Ozone" for Coring Meat. — R. B. Warder 

 writes ; " And has it come to this that even so 

 high-toned a journal as the Gardener's Month- 

 ly lends its aid to the popular delusion that sul- 

 phurous acid gas ' is simply and purely ozone, as 

 produced and applied by an entirely new pro- 

 cess?' The real character of the 'ozone' adver- 

 tised so widelj' was described in the Cincinnati 

 Commercial and Gazette of the 23d inst, I may 

 send you a copy." 



[The editor is not responsible for what appears 

 in the advertising columns. Even if he had 

 been, he should probably have ,been no wiser 

 than the publisher; for he has to confess that he 

 did not know that the material offered was 

 simply sulphurous acid disguised, until this note 

 of Professor Warder directed his attention to the 

 proceedings of the Cincinnati Academy of Sci- 

 ences. There certainly is nothing on the face of 

 the advertisement to indicate any more fraud 

 than in the average of " patent" stuff, which we 

 are sorry to say, high-toned papers must 

 advertise, so long as thousands of high-toned 

 people are willing to use and want to buy. High- 

 toned papers only advertise what they are con- 

 vinced high-toned people want to get. Professor 

 Warder and the Academy of Sciences deserve 

 public thanks for their services in this matter. 

 The reading columns of the Gardener's Month- 

 ly are always open to this good work,whether the 

 vile stuff happens to sneak into the advertising 

 columns of this paper or not. Publishers are 

 but fallible men, and are liable to be imposed 

 upon as well as any other member of the com- 

 munity.— Ed. G. M.] 



