344 



Dialogue between a Father and Son. 



Vol. III. 



fore any crops are fiown ; it is catching the 

 mice. I have often laughed at those, who 

 never think of setting traps for tiieso vermin 

 until they sow their peas, wlien, after scatter- 

 ing them by handsful into their very holes, 

 tliey stick up one solitary pea, to entice them 

 from such a bountiful feast ! I always say, as 

 my f!itherdid, " first catch your mice, and then 

 sow your peas," and by setting plenty of traps 

 at this season of scarcity, you will be sure to 

 catch every one in the parden. 



Frank. I have heard that my grandfather 

 was the best gardener in this part of the coun 

 try; was it he that planned thio delightful gar- 

 den ;* that brought this little stream across 

 the hill, and made it fall so gracefully over 

 these rocks into the basin below, and to fill 

 the pond in the centre, in which we see so 

 many fishes playing about; who planted those 

 willows that hang so beautifully over it, 

 and placed the seats under them so judi- 

 ciously, that by changing our situation, ac- 

 cording to the position of the sun, we can al- 

 ways see to the bottom of the water ? 



Father. Yes, my boy, it was he who did 

 all this, and every thing else which you see — 

 it is to him that J am indebted for more than 

 life ! and I feel a holy reverence when I think 

 of my father ! But come this way, and I will 

 show you what else he did, and what, by his 

 instructions, I have been enabled to do in t"'ul- 

 filment of his original idea?, for I have never 

 deviated from the plan which he first laid 

 down, and to this circumstance I attribute the 

 success which I have experienced. The 

 whole of what is now the Garden and Or- 

 chard, was nothing but a wilderness at the 

 time when my father entered upon this_/</r?«, 

 we call it now — then, it had a different name 

 — waste. It had a thick covering of bushes 

 and briers, and appeared a chasm, which no 

 one knew any thing about. My father ob- 

 served it had a southern aspect, and that the 

 declivities on its sides, were not so great as 

 had been imagined. 1 was then just your 

 age, and as you are now mine, so was I thtm 

 his companion. I remember the evening 

 when he came to the determination to turn 

 this den of brambles into a garden, and I shall 

 never forget the ardor which I felt, when 

 looking forward to the tinie, when I should 

 see it, as it is at this moment ! He sketched 

 the plan in an instant, and the ne.xt evening 

 the axe and the mattock were busily employed 

 amongst the bushes. " Now, George," said 

 he " remember our text, ' nothing is impossi- 

 ble to a willing mind,^ " and I assure you wc 

 stuck to it — in fact, we surprised even our- 

 selves — in less than a month, the laborious 

 part of the work was completed : by digging 



* Sec Cabinet, vol. ii , page 351— ariiclo, " Tlie Grovt 

 Farm." 



down the sides of the glen, we were enabled 

 partly to fill the centre, and by forming the 

 walks, we obtained earth sufficient to cover 

 the borders, which were raised considerably 

 by the op<jration ; and thus he obtained those 

 very pleasant terrace walks around the sides, 

 so much admired by all who have seen them. 

 Still, however, there remained a hollow in the 

 centre, partly covered with large stones, and 

 to make what is called a virtue of necessilif, 

 he so contrived that this ehould form a fij^h 

 pond, and he s-oon found a way to convey wa- 

 ter to it from the opposite side of the hill ; and 

 by placing large rough stones at the top of the 

 chasm, wheie the water first comes over tiie 

 top of the declivity, he obtained a water-fall 

 twenty-five feet in height: to this you ap- 

 proach from below by a narrow winding path 

 beside the pond, and it v.'as his happy thought 

 to excavate a basin at its foot, to- receive the 

 falling water, and by the side of it, to plant 

 the willow and place the seat, which is so 

 much admired, as well as to plant the accli- 

 vity in such a way as, in the summer, to form 

 a retreat, impenetrable to the sun's rays. — 

 You see that the walks in the garden are wide 

 enough for persons to walk in company — this, 

 at the time they were formed, was considered 

 a waste of land — my father knew better ; for 

 by having no paltry cross walk?, he actually 

 saved by the plan, which is now so much ap- 

 proved of. The four quarters of the garden, 

 and the southern border, are appropriated to 

 the raising of vegetables and fruits, whilst the 

 eastern and western borders are devoted to 

 flowers, a love for which I inherited from my 

 father; and the care of these being given to 

 your dear mother and sister, I need only point 

 to them to show how well they perform their 

 pleasing task. 



The water which flows from the fish pond, 

 is made to fill the canal, the bottom of which 

 being covered with gravel, forms the water 

 cress bed, tlie produce from which is so supe- 

 rior to all in the neighborhood, as to bring a 

 higher price in the market; this arises from 

 the crop being grown on gravel, where it 

 might be kept clean from weeds, and the wa- 

 ter comirg fin, alter depo.-iting its nmd in the 

 fi.-^h pond above. From this canal, the water 

 is carried by a trench down the middle of the 

 orchard, and then either passes in a serpen- 

 tine course acro.«s the meadow below, for the 

 purpose of watering its surface, or is conveyed 

 in a straight course down the ditch to the mill 

 stream, either way, which is most proper. 



Frank. As very much of the productive- 

 ness of a garden u.uist depend on judicious 

 cropping, would it not be easy for a person, 

 who is competent, to make a sketch and give 

 instructions upon paper on the subject, sotliat 

 the owner might have at one view thedifler- 

 ent departments, slocked with suitable crops. 



