ORCHARDS. 109 



and they soon pick up and grow plump, rosy, and hearty. ! 

 how the meagre, wizened, pale-faced little ones of the street 

 leap with joy at the sight of the glowing peaches and shining 

 apples, bottling up, in their beautiful perfumed skins, more po- 

 tent medicines than any apothecary's shop can boast, as curative 

 as they are grateful. 



Third. Doubtless dram-drinking and intemperance itself 

 would be infinitely lessened, if not utterly banished from our 

 soil, by an abundance of fruits ; for the love of wines, cordials, 

 ardent spirits, and liquors, is but a corruption of the true and 

 natural taste for the juices of fruits ; and it has been often 

 noticed, that those addicted to the excessive use of such drinks 

 are extremely fond of fruits by nature ; and only give such an 

 abundance of fresh wholesome fruit, and they will soon banish 

 their wines and liquors, and various poisonous spirituous mix- 

 tures. 



Fourth. Again, the philosophy of specifics, which is but just 

 in its infancy, even in its application to the vegetable world, will, 

 ere long, be seen to be equally applicable to the animal organiza- 

 tion ; and it will be found that, while potatoes, cabbage, &g., 

 tend to muscular development, as instanced in the Irish and in 

 the Dutch, the hull of corn and grain contributes to the bones, 

 and their flour to the substance of the brain — fruits feed the 

 nervous tissues and the spiritual body, and produce a mental 

 elevation and harmony, and an exhilaration of spirits, that give 

 a perpetual serenity, peace, and joy. 



Such are some among the many reasons, besides the continu- 

 ally increasing pecuniary compensation to the intelligent culti- 

 vator, why we would urge the universal culture of the various 

 garden fruits in their succession, till our fruit rooms shall be as. 

 common as cellar or pantry ; our drawers of grapes and pears for 

 winter use, shall be more universal even than our good stores 

 of apples now; and the time come when the poorest and 

 humblest man, from his little plat of ground, may nourish and 

 delight his little ones, the year round, with the luxury of suC' 

 cessive fruits, grown to be a necessary comfort. 



And to this end it might be well for agricultural and horti- 

 cultural associations, not only to distribute in their counties 

 and towns the best seeds, the finest and most profitable scions^ 



