of Bnral Art and Tade. 



131 



ment of our burying-grounds. These once 

 neglected and gloomy resting places of the 

 dead, casting terror and horror on the minds 

 of children and youth, are fast giving way to 

 the shady retreats and sylvan scenes of the 

 wood and forest. Where, formerly, decay- 

 ing grass, tangled weeds and moss-cov- 

 ered tablets were generally to be seen, now 

 may be witnessed beautiful natural scenery 

 and embellished lots, which awaken sensations 

 that no language can describe, where the 

 meandering path leads to the spot in which 

 rest the remains of the loved and lost of 

 earth — where the rustling pine mournfully 

 sighs in the passing breeze, the willow weeps 

 in responsive grief, and the evergreen cypress, 

 breathing in perennial life, is a fit emblem of 

 those celestial fields, where the leaf shall never 

 Avither, the flower never fade, and fruition 

 never end. 



I know of no better temporal acquisition 

 than a hajipy rural liome, — a home where you 

 may sit amid the fruiting of your trees and 

 the blooming of your plants, — a home embel- 

 lished by your own taste, and endeared by 

 pleasures shared with the loved ones of your 

 family — a happy country home, where you may, 

 find enjoyment, not in hungry greed for gold, 

 not in the conflicts for political distinction, not 

 in the strife for place, power or renown. For 

 more than fifty years I have trod the crowded 

 marts of trade and commerce ; I have shared 

 in the privileges and perplexities of public 

 service, and 'C have enjoyed the soul-reviving 

 sympathy of family and friends, but I have 

 never forgotten my first love for rural life. 

 Whenever I could rescue a little time from 

 the cares of business — whether at rosy morn, 

 golden noon or declining day, I have fled to 

 the garden and greenhouse, to my favorite 

 trees and plants, that I might commune and 

 co-operate with nature in her secret laboratory 

 of wonder-working power. This is my idea 

 of a happy, rural home ; and this is my idea 

 of a happy man, — he who is contented with 

 fruits and flowers reared by his own care, with 

 congenial friends, and a good conscience to- 

 wards God and his fellow men. And it has 

 ever appeared to me that contentment and 



happiness were easily to be acquired by all 

 who really love the cultivation of these lovely 

 objects. And let me add, that I know of no 

 more grateful, and I was about to say, devo- 

 tional feelings, than those which we enjoy at the 

 close of a quiet Sabbath summer day, when, 

 with wife and children, we stroll along the 

 bordered flowery walks, or sit in sweet con- 

 verse under the umbrageous trees your hands 

 have planted, just as the declining sun is 

 fringing the horizon with rosy promise of a 

 fairer to-morrow, and parting day is hushing 

 universal nature to repose. 



l*latitiu(/ Strawhefi'les. — A writer in 

 the Cottage Gardener describes a method by 

 which he obtains early results from planting 

 strawberries. He first allowed the runners 

 to form a mass of rooted plants ; these he 

 took up with a spade, three inches deep, and 

 in blocks nine indies square, the work being 

 neatly done by cutting them by lines. In a 

 well prepared bed, these blocks were set 

 eighteen inches apart, in trenches dug two 

 feet apart. The roots not being injured in 

 the least, the crop was excellent. We have 

 adopted a similar plan, cutting smaller blocks, 

 with single strong plants to each. They were 

 set out in spring, and the plants being cheeked 

 none, the bed bore a fair crop of ripe berries, 

 six weeks after setting. If the operation is 

 well performed, beds might be set in autumn 

 without danger of the plants suffering by the 

 freezing of winter, a slight covering of ever- 

 greens }>eing given. — Country Gentleman. 



Fuchsia Seed.^A party visiting a fuch- 

 sia house, on one of the seed farms of Europe, 

 was asked to guess the weight of seed pro- 

 cured from that one house — about ten by 

 thirty feet in size. Twenty, ten^ and even as 

 little as one pound were suggested, but the 

 fact proved that the entire product was only 

 one quarter of an ounce. 



A Peach orchard in Maryland contains 

 1,013 acres. At the height of the past sea- 

 son 600 hands were employed in picking, 

 paring and canning the fruit, and the daily 

 work was about 4,000 baskets, or 30,000 

 cans. 



