

AND HORTICULTUriAL REGISTER. 



PUnLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultcral Wabehoc3b.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



VOli.XIX.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 26, 1841. 



two. 47. 



N. E. FARMER, 



EXTRACTS FROM AN ADDRESS 



Before the Agricultural Society of fVestboro\ in Sept. 



1840, by Joseph Breck. 



"It ig unpardonable in a man who, like most of 

 our farmers, can, without detriment to his other ar- 

 rangements of business, appropriate an acre or 

 more for the cultivation of the more delicious fruits, 

 not to do it. Even though he may not in dollars 

 and cents find his account in it, yet in the health 

 and happiness of his family, and in the pleasure of 

 Betting before his friends these cheap luxuries, he 

 will. How often do wo see children devouring 

 unripe and unpalatable fruit, which too often brings 

 on disease and premature death, when at a trifling 

 expense, an abundant supply for the family may 

 be raised, giving them a piofusion of delicious, ripe 

 and grateful fruit, which instead of an injury is a 

 promoter of health. 



"I have often heard objections made to raising 

 fine fruit, some of which are the following: That 

 it will be stolen should I succeed in raising it: it 

 will therefore be of no use. I have no time to at- 

 tend to such trifling matters, and even if I had, I 

 have no taste for the pursuit. I cannot afford the 

 expense. It will be a long time before the money 

 I expend will be refunded, and I may not live to 

 gather the fruit. In fact there is a lion in the way : 

 the man has no disposition to attend to it ; but is 

 willing to lead his children into temptation, by neg- 

 lecting his duty at home; for they, seeing tlieir 

 neighbor's fair fruit, cannot withstand the trial ; 

 trespass upon his ground and pilfer his fruit ; irri- 

 tate and outrage his feelings, and a neighborhood 

 <iuarrel is the result. 



" The most eSectual remedy to prevent fruit 

 from being stolen is, that the practice of planting 

 orchards of select fruit, should become universal; 

 for by so doing, all will either be in possession of 

 the lu.vuries they afford, or enabled to purchase 

 them at a moderate price, and thus the temptation 

 to plunder is removed. Who thinks of robbing a 

 cornfield or potato patch ? Surely none but the 

 most abandoned savage. Were cornfields and po- 

 tato patches as uncommon as choice orchards of 

 fruit, then it might be expected that for the sake 

 of the green corn and potatoes, there are some men 

 vile enough even to rob them. I have lately no- 

 ticed an account of the Pawnee tribe of Indians, in 

 which it was stated that some of the clan, tired of 

 the toilsome and uncertain mode of living by hunt- 

 ing, were desirous of learning to cultivate the 

 groimd ; and had, under the instruction of missiona- 

 ries, raised an abundant crop ; but, unluckily for 

 them, their fields had been plundered by their more 

 roving and less civilized neighbors, who were fond 

 of the corn, but too lazy and improvident to raise 

 it themselves. And thus it has been with us in 

 relation to fruiL When the Pawnee tribe all cul- 

 tivate corn, there will be no inducement for any to 

 steal it. So if all will cultivate fruit among us, 

 there will be none worse than savages to pilfer it. 

 Should there be any, however, so vicious as to 



trespass upon his neighbor's rights and rob him of 

 his fruit, he should, if detected, be made a public 

 example of at once, and his offence treated with 

 that rigor which is due the crime. In times past, 

 (and we hope these times are past forever,) it was 

 considered quite a joke, a thing to be laughed at, 

 to have a parcel of scapegoats club together, and 

 in the darkness of night, rob their neighbor's fruit 

 or melon yard. Thus children were early taught 

 that it was a light oflTence. ' In point of criminali- 

 ty, where is the difierence between stealing fruit or 

 the fence which encloses it ; an apple or a plough ; 

 cherries or silver spoons ; melons or any other ar- 

 ticln belonging to the proprietor.- If the law has 

 not made it theft, it is an offence punishable with 

 a heavy fine. Morality is as much outraged by 

 taking a peach, as the spade at the door ; and to 

 treat such acts in children as unworthy of reproof, 

 is a dereliction of duty which neither virtue nor re- 

 ligion can tolerate; for the doing wrong in the 

 slightest manner, is most often the commencement 

 of a career of depravity, which brings disgrace or 

 ruin upon the heedless or deluded offender. A 

 man's grounds should be considered as sacred as 

 his house; and every article on his estate as se- 

 cure against robbery as if it were protected by 

 locks and bars.' — However, we may congratulate 

 ourselves on the change in public opinion for the 

 better on this subjedt, we have occasion still to re- 

 gret the want of a higher standard of morality and 

 good manneis in this respect, which we hope pa- 

 rents and sabbath school teachers will elevate and 

 set right. It ought to shame our youth, to have it 

 said, that as a nation, we are far in the rear of 

 many of the European ; for there no one thinks of 

 touching a fruit or flower, which docs not belong 

 to him. In confirmation of this, I might cite many 

 facts, but will give only a few examples. The 

 public road from Strasburg to Munich, in Germany, 

 a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, is an ave- 

 nue of fruit trees, unbroken except by towns and 

 villages. There are but few fences in the country, 

 and the grounds often unprotected, even on the 

 high^vays; and although burdened by grape vines, 

 and trees loaded with delicious fruits, no one thinks 

 of taking the smallest quantity without the appro- 

 bation of the proprietor. Lady Morton observes in 

 her travels, "that property of this description is 

 held sacred in proportion as it lies exposed. Hav- 

 ing alighted from our carriage, to spare the springs 

 on a rough road, which wound through a wilder- 

 ness of fruit trees : I asked a boy who was lying 

 reading under one of them, whether I might take 

 an apple ; he coolly replied, 'they are none of 

 mine.' ' But you sometimes help yourself, I dare 

 say.' He raised his head, and looking at me with 

 an expression of humorous sarcasm, he replied : 

 ' You mean that I steal, do you, madam ? No, 

 madam, it is better to ask for one, than to turn 

 thief for an apple.' " 



" Most towns of any size on the continent, boast 

 of their promenades and public gardens, filled with 

 trees, shrubs and plants of every description and 

 of the choicest kinds ; and although exposed and 

 open to all, there is no fear as with us, of any inju- 



ry in the smallest degree to any, however rare or 

 valuable. I will take the town of Frankfort as an 

 illustration. This town is surrounded, except on 

 the side where the river Maine runs, with a plea- 

 sure ground at least two miles in length, commenc- 

 ed in 1809, and occupying the breadth of the for- 

 mer ditch and ramparts, and affording a great va- 

 riety of shady walks and picturesque scenery. One 

 particular feature of this pleasure ground is that it 

 is not confined to trees and shrubs, but contains a 

 profusion of the choicest flowers, such as Dahlias, 

 Chrysanthemums, &c., together with most of the 

 showy annuals, iis asters, balsams, &.C., and even 

 geraniums, pinks and the like. 



"Though merely separated from the public high- 

 way by a hedge which may be stridden across, 

 and at all times accessible to every individual of a 

 population of fifty thousand souls, and cnn.stantly 

 frequented by servants and children «f every de- 

 scription, not a flower nor even a leaf of any one 

 of the plants, from the rarest and most shewy even 

 to the humblest, seems ever to be touched. A 

 printed label is affixed on aboard at each entrance, 

 expressing that the public authorities, having origi- 

 nally formed, and annually keeping up the garden, 

 for the gratification of the ciiizens — its trees, shrubs, 

 and flowers are committed to the safeguard of their 

 individual protection. 



"This garden affords a striking proof of the im- 

 proved state of German manners. No doubt the 

 proprietors of our public and private gardens, would 

 be glad to see this German spirit animating and 

 pervading our citizens, of all ranks and conditions. 



"I have dwelt long upon this point, feeling that 

 the state of public opinion is not quite right upon 

 this subject, and that the objection has been, and 

 still is, an important one in many places. 



"Want of time and taste is often a convenient 

 excuse. But time is found for a thousand things 

 of not half so much importance, and sometimes for 

 that which is positively injurious. Time is often 

 spent in meddling with other people's concerns, in 

 discussing political questions, or in angry debates, 

 which tend only to produce bad feelings, which 

 would be better and much more profitably spent in 

 setting out and taking care of trees at home. We 

 suppose, at the present time, no respectable person 

 is seen lounging about the tavern or grog-shop ; 

 but in times past, many who considered themselves 

 so, were in the habit of doing it. The time that 

 has been spent in this way in many of our towns, 

 and the money worse than wasted for ardent spirits, 

 would have been more than sufficient to have con- 

 verted these places into gardens, blooming and 

 fruitful, like the garden of Eden. 



" The trees once set out, the time required for 

 their care and preservation is but trifling. It is 

 only the fragments of time that are needed. A 

 few hours in the morning or at night, at some par- 

 ticular seasons of the year, is all that is nece.^sary 

 to insure to the farmer or mechanic, the comforts 

 and pleasure of good fruit to his whole family. — 

 The ignorant man has no time for the improvement 

 of his mind : the objection is as good in one case as 

 the other. 



