464 



THE G^VRDEN AND ITS PRUITS. 



[Chap. V. 



]ias, at some trade or profession, to devote a little time, some money, and a 

 great deal of sonnd common sense in the cnltivation of the little half-acre 

 plats that -we often see surrounding village residences, which arc mere ex- 

 ani])les of the utter usclessness of land c>scept to cnahle the owner to show 

 how barren and worthless he can make it. There is no need of this idle use 

 of land. Tliere is no reason why every owner of a village lot should not 

 revel in all the luscious fruits of the season, and' treat himself and his friends 

 to an occasional bottle of M-ine, equal to any that he could purchase for a 

 conple of dollars, just as Geo. II. Ilite is now able to do, free of expense; 

 for his garden pays its own way, and a little more, of all cost of cultivation, 

 leaving him in the enjoyment of its delicious fruits, fresh from the earth, or 

 their products preserved to continue almost as fresh throughout the winter. 

 And he is not by pi'ofession nor early education a gardener, being a native 

 of a State less noted for its horticultural skill and fruits than for its pro- 

 ductions of great corn crops, great bullocks, great men — ^jjhysically and in- 

 tellectually. Mr. Ilite is a Kentuckian, and some of his carl^' years M^ere 

 spent in painting portraits in Louisiana. Then he came to iSTew York, and 

 during other years acquired fame as an artist upon ivory. Then, some years 

 ago, like a sensible man, he began to create a home for his old age, when it 

 conies ; it is only in the blossom now ; and that home I have visited, and I 

 wish I could take every one who hears or reads of it with me to Icaru what 

 an artist has done, and what a mechanic, a lawyer, a doctor, or anybody 

 else might do in a garden upon a village lot. "Will the sluggards who sigh 

 after an abundance of fruit, and envy those who have, yet take no steps to 

 have it themselves, believe me when I tell them that in this garden there 

 are grapevines of such extent, luxuriance, and fruitfulness, that several bar- 

 rels are required to hold the juice of the surplus of the crop? The fruitful 

 arbor that extends some fifty feet from the rear of the house, affords a de- 

 lightful shady spot, which, indej^endent of the fruit, is well worth its cost. 

 Isabella grape wine, five years old, with no addition whatever to the juice 

 of the grape, is excellent. Strawberries grow to perfection in this garden ; 

 and as a cultivator of currants, ITr. Ilite excels. Not merely a few basket- 

 fuls for family use, but bushel after Ijushel, red, white, and black. The ber- 

 ries of the true red Dutch variety are upon the average as large as the cherry 

 currants under ordinary cultivation ; and as for productiveness, no state- 

 ment can convey an idea. To believe, you must see. And this is the result 

 of pruning. True, Mr. Hite follows the Scriptural injunction about a bar- 

 ren tree, to " dig about and dung it," with all of his trees, and vines, and 

 shrubs, and flowers, and table vegetables ; but with the currant the secret 

 of success is pruning. "Keep no old wood," is his injunction. Every 

 branch that has borne three crops must be cut away at the ground, having 

 been twice shortened in, by which the short fruit-spurs on the new wood 

 are always loaded, and the bunches growing close to the canes, so that they 

 look like ropes of red berries. To commence with a single plant, cut it 

 away close to the ground, to induce several vigorous shoots, instead of one, 



