10 DESULTORY REMARKS. 



degree of merit j some of high excellence, so valuable thai we regretted 

 they should share the fate of our whole collection of peaches, which, as 

 we before observed, were destroyed by the late unfavorable seasons. 



We mention these seminal productions only to show that our labours 

 meet a speedy reward, and that a person is seldom so advanced in life 

 that he may not reasonably look for both requital and gratification in so 

 laudable a pursuit. But to a young man with the advantages of fortune 

 and a familiarity with the modern languages, researches of this nature 

 would open an inexhaustible source of enjoyment. He could scarcely 

 be more honorably and usefully occupied than in collecting and identify- 

 ing fruits, and introducing them to the notice of his countrymen ; nor 

 better rewarded than in witnessing his anticipations, from year to year, 

 continually realized and continually renewed. The same ardour which 

 characterises the collectors of shells, birds and insects, would produce, 

 in Horticulture, far more delightful and more noble results. 



A division of the pursuit) so that the attention of one person could be 

 exclusively directed to one species of fruit, would probably greatly fa- 

 cilitate the progress of investigation, and lead to many satisfactory con- 

 clusions respecting the varieties most worthy of cultivation. If France 

 has produced her Duhamel, Belgium her Van Mor.s, and England her 

 Thompson, is it unreasonable to seek among gentlemen of leisure and 

 education in the United States, for one, who following in the footsteps of 

 these illustrious men, with the advantage of the light derived from their 

 researches, shall compensate for the long delay of the experimental gar- 

 den, promised by our own Horticultural Society. 



In speaking as we have, of the annoyances sustained from birds, we 

 are still fully persuaded that these plunderers, as they are sometimes 

 called, more than compensate for their occasional inroads upon our or- 

 chards by their services in the spring, and also during their incubation, 

 in destroying insects. We too often, perhaps, notice the former, while 

 the latter are remote, or not obtrusive. 



In early spring and during the breeding season, we see them every 

 minute of the day in continual progress, flying from the nest for a sup- 

 ply, and returning on rapid wing with a grub, a catterpillar, or a small 

 reptile. The numbers captured by them in the course of these travels 

 are incredibly numerous, keeping under the increase of these races. We 

 have seen the Ampelis, or Cherry Bird, that remarkably silent and dove- 



