V<».. V%'I. NO. 43. 



AND GA RDENER'S JOURNAL 



8-39 



We have l)RCii si) miR'h impressed with the iiii- 

 lensu importimceof the facts and views given in 

 he suhjoiiiod article, that we have no hesitation 

 n traiislbrriiig it at once to our columns from the 

 Joston Courier. Restinj,' as it does upon uuques- 

 ionahle authority, it is perfectly unanswerable, 

 rhe execution of the new law regulating the sale 

 if ardent spirits will depend essentially upon the 

 letercnined and cond)iiied influence of the friends 

 )f sobriety, order, and huinanily. We cannot 

 onht that this will be given in a calm but most 

 esoUue and inflexible manner. The representa- 

 ions, which interested parties are disposed to 

 nake, that the law assumes to prescribe what a 

 nan shall eat or what he shall driidt, are entirely 

 mwarrantable. It does no such thing. It leaves 

 very man in this resf)ect to do as he pleases ; and 

 io get drunk wlien and as often as he may choose. 

 Jul the State does determine that it will have no 

 lart or lot in this matter; that by its auilioiity or 

 vith its countenance no facilities or encotnnge- 

 icnts to vice shall be furnished ; but as far as the 

 uthority of the law can reach, they shall liere- 

 noved and suppressed. It is a law having no 

 ther object in view than to protect the <!ommu- 

 lity against iierdless and enormous expense, and 

 gainst pauperism and crime. It does not say 

 hat a man shall not kindle as large a fire as he 

 ileasts in his own house; or burn his own house 

 own if so he chooses, provided he can do it 

 nthont injury to others ; but it does determine 

 bat he shall not kindle a fire in a combustible 

 eighborhood ; and it resolves to pluck the torch 

 ■om his hand by which his neighbor's peace and 

 roperty, and that indeed of the whole cominu- 

 ity should be endangered, impaired, or destroyed, 

 t Hoidd be difficult however to place the subject 

 n a more just or forcible light than is here done. 



THE TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT, 



To be used as a drink, is a violation of the law of 

 God ; and is an immorality. 



Let us now look at the facts, which sustain this 

 trong <leclaration, and see if we are not borne out 

 y them. 



First: Let us scan the "abstract of the returns 

 if the Overseers of the Poor in Massachusetts, for 

 ,837, as presented to the Senate and House of 

 lepresentatives, by John P. Bigelow, Esq. Secre- 

 ary of State. Number of persons relieved or sup- 

 lorted as paupers, during the year 1837. 

 bounties. Caused by Intemperance 



iuflTolk, 3294 2004 



issex, 2421 1611 



fliddlesex, 2084 1358 



iVorcester, 1360 . 519 



lampshire, 428 202 



iampden, 346 135 



franklin, 435 , 129 



Jerkshire, 539 127 



Norfolk, 800 297 



Jristol, 1310 866 



•ly mouth, 636 201 



({anistable, 



Dukes, 



Nantucket, 



307 

 51 

 93 



68 



4 



79 



14,099 7,590 



Showing in 289 towns an aggregate of 14,099 pau- 

 pers, 7590 of whom were made so by intemper- 

 ance. The whole amount expended in support- 

 ing these 14,099 paupers, for the year, was 

 $106,548 96, which is a fraction over $21 74 for 

 each, and for the intemperate part, or 7590, it 

 gives the sum of one hundred and sixlrjfive thou- 

 sand and twenty-three dollars, thirty cents, expend- 

 ed last year, in Mas.-;achuse:ts, in tlie poor-house 

 deparlment alone, for the tnaiiitenance of paupers 

 caused by iniempernnce." This report being 

 made in pursuance of a resolve of the Legislature, 

 and by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, will 

 not be suspected of exaggeration, on the contrary, 

 it probably (alls far short of the truth, owing to 

 the reluctance which Overseers must have, to say- 

 ing of many, who once were respectable, and 

 have been reduced to the situation of a pauper, 

 '• rum did the deed." We have then, at least, 

 one statement of the <lou)gs of intemperance, in 

 which no "fanatical temperance agent" has had 

 a hand ; and if we are not misinformed, it was the 

 agency and secret influence of this report, which 

 operated so powerfully upon our Legislature, as 

 to compel nearly three-fourths, in both branches, 

 to pass the bill for abolishing licenses, for the 

 conniion retail .sale of ardent spirit, after the first 

 day of July next. Our civil fathers have nobly 

 done their duty, and if sustained by the morality 

 and virtue of their constituents, a new eia will 

 dawn upon our Slate, and an influence, for good, 

 will be wafted over our land, and through the 

 world. 



Let us cabnly survey the past effects of the sale 

 of anient spirit, aided by the returns of the Over- 

 seers of the Poor. We may then assume it as a 

 fact, that for ten years past, the State had paid, 

 for the support of paupers, made by intemper- 

 ance ; in poor-houses alone, the sum of $165,023 30 

 annually — which in those ten years amounts to 

 the sum of one million, six hundrcil and fifty thou- 

 sand and twenty -three dollars, thirty cents. Now 

 admitting that we have had fifteen hundred li- 

 censed retailers during that period, it follows that 

 each one has cost the State, for the support of her 

 poor, the sum of eleven thousand dollars, which 

 the public have paid as a direct tax to support 

 paupers. Thus, for every dollar, received into 

 the public treasury, as the price of a license, the 

 people have paid out elkvEiN hcndred dollars. 

 Facts, like these, are stubborn things, and it was 

 in view of such facts, that the bill for the sale of 

 ardent spirit was passed, and with such, and other 

 facts, relating to the expense, of crime and mis- 

 ery, the people will sust.iin the law, and carry it 

 into full efl^ect. Our legislators saw that it would 

 be a saving of money to jiay fifteen hundred li 

 censed persons, a pension Jor life, of eleven hun- 

 dred dollars a year, to each, rather than permit 

 them to make, annually, seven hunilred and fifty- 

 nine drunkards, to supply the ravages by death, 

 of that numl)er; the calculation heiicg that ten per 

 cent, of them are yearly carried to the drunkard's 

 grave, and as many more step out of the ranks of 

 jnoderate drinkers, to fill up the vacancies in their 

 files. Like wise men, they calcidated that if the 

 supply could be cut off in ten years, this enormous 

 burthen to the public would be removed. Too 



long has the evil been sanctioned by false: legisla- 

 tion, and the enlightened fiieudiers of the present 

 Government have done what they could to wipe 

 oflT the stain, which future generations will be 

 slow to believe could ever have attaclnil to the 

 sons of the Pilgrims, for continuing this deadly, 

 soul atid body destroying evil. 



We have given only an imperfect view of but 

 one of the evilsof licenses ; that of erealina a great 

 amiind expendiiure of money, for that, which is 

 by all acknowleilgcd, to be not only wholly use- 

 less; but which is absolutely pernicious. 



The Columbiati Horticultural Society at Wash- 

 ington, District of Columbia, held an exhibition of 

 flowers on Saturday, 23d ult. and the subjuined 

 notice is taken from their report in the National 

 Intelligencer. It shows a spirit and success in 

 the beautiful department of floricidture, which 

 will be gratifying to the flori-ts. 



The Committee on Flowers reported that Mrs 

 Seaton had exhibited a haiulsome bouquet of hya- 

 cinths, consisting of 8 or 10 varieties, uU remark- 

 ably fine and fragrant. 



Mr Peirce sent to the committee, during the 

 week, some beautiful specimens of roses ami pan- 

 sies. The pansies (15 varieties) are said, It," the 

 committee, to surpass any thing of the kind ever 

 before exhibited to them ; ami they add, that 

 "this little modest favorite has taken a new stand 

 in Flora's kingdom, and bids fair to rival aiuicula 

 and even carnation." Mrs Peirce has devoted 

 much attention lo this flower, and has Mu:ceeded 

 in raisiilg several fine seedliu'^s. Soirie of them 

 measured two inches across '.he face. The com- 

 mittee consider that " Mrs peirce deserves great 

 credit fi)r her skill and ex'ertions in bringing thiS! 

 flower lo such perlt;cti.oii." 



Mr Peirce's s[)eciiueijs of roSes were the fol- 

 lowing : blush, tea, perpetual white moss, monthly 

 cahbi ge, nmltiflor?,^ gigantia. La Marc, Harrisonia, 

 Lady Banks's vv'iiitt unultitlora, yellow lea, and, 

 fim.stine. 



Mr J. A. Smith e^t.ihited a veiy fine buncl;, of 

 long scarlet short td|i radishes. 



The Soci'jty adjourned until the ttext stated; 

 meeting. 



April. Frosts. — It is generelly thought that 

 the late severe fmsts have killed the peaches in 

 this part of the country. Some expecieneed mar- 

 ket gar (li:n.ers in this neighborhood, liowever, en- 

 terlain a different opinion, and we shall be very 

 glad to find that their views are correct. We 

 have now some v€i7 valuable peach orchanls in 

 thi.s vicinity, which have been raised at great ex- 

 pense and with no ordinary care, lalior and atten- 

 tion ; and it wonhl, indeed, be matter of great re- 

 gret, not only to their owners and cultivators, but 

 to our citizens generally, if the crop of peaches 

 (a fruit of the most delicious kind, and which of 

 late years, fi, IS been brought to great peifection 

 by the skill of neighboring cuhivalors,) should 

 again fail to yield its grateful supplies. We are 

 told that some of the peach cultivators in the 

 District have kept fires constantly burning during 

 the late frosty nights in the midst of their peach 

 trees; and we are informed that this method of 

 saving their fruit froui the ravages of the frosts 

 has been successfully practised by experienced 

 horticulturists in the Northern Slate f.^JVat. Intel. 



