No. 3. 



Editorial Notices. 



103 



THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



AND 



AMERICAN HERD-BOOK. 



Philadelphia, Tenth Month, 1842. 



Agreeably to the notice given in our last number, 

 the annual exhibition of the Pennsylvania Horticul- 

 tural Society, took place on the 21st, 22nd, and 23d 

 ult., in the room formerly occupied by the Chinese mu- 

 seum in this city. This room, by the way, is more 

 than one hundred and fifty feet long, with nearly half 

 that width, and a ceiling proportionately high— afford 

 ing ample space for the towering stalks and leaves of 

 the Urania Speciosa, a Banana like plant, forwarded 

 by Richard S. Field, of Princeton, N. J., as well as for 

 those of many other shrubs and plants of the largest 

 I class. The display of fruits and flowers, and veget- 

 ables common to the season, was surpassingly fine. 

 The lover of rare and beautiful plants too, both indi- 

 genous and exotic, could hardly fail to have his broad- 

 est wishes gratified. The whole arrangements of the 

 room, which, from end to end, and from side to side, 

 was thoroughly occupied, did great credit, in our esti- 

 mation, to the skill and judgment and good taste of 

 those who planned and executed them. The continual 

 bubbling of the classical fountain in the centre— the 

 merry diving of the ducks in its basin, and the fine ap- 

 pearance of rare aquatic plants around its edge, pre- 

 sented a very agreeable and tasteful variety in this 

 "wilderness of sweets." Trees loaded with oranges, 

 lemons and pomegranates, presented themselves in 

 abundance; and these, with many other tropical plants, 

 showed by their luxuriance of foliage, how completely 

 and delightfully the rigidness of our climate had been 

 made to yield to the skill and carefulness of the ama- 

 teur. The coffee tree, the tea plant, the mahogany 

 tree, the live oak, the screw pine, and a variety of 

 palms, were among those which particularly claimed 

 our attention, and which are only to be found in the 

 gardens of the curious. The Butterfly plant, Oncidium 

 papi/io, the Brazilian Birthwirt, Jiristolochia labiosa, 

 and the Pitcher plant. Nepenthes distillatoria, we have 

 but rarely met with, and they again appeared to us, as 

 they ever have, as samples of those sportive creations, 

 in which nature occasionally delights to indulge. Scores 

 and scores of the Cactus, too, were exhibited in every 

 variety; they amused and delighted us, as a very child 

 would have been amused and delighted, and we found 

 ourselves loitering around them from day to day, al- 

 most by the hour.— Of all sizes and all shapes, and 

 almost of no shape at all ; we were detected laughing 

 in our sleeve at the very idea of the quondary that 

 father Euclid would have been in, if he had set about 

 the task of reducing them within the rules of right 

 lines, or curves. Their clumsiness and their beauty, 

 their awkwardness and their primness, their hairiness 

 and their baldness, the sparkling lustre of their appa- 

 rently misplaced flower, and the repulsiveness of their 

 thorn, presented altogether such a medley of contra- 

 rieties, that it seemed as if their individuality might 

 have been acquired as Minerva acquired hers— through 

 pain and suffering — and from the wreck of an origi- 

 nally beautiful design. 



The appearance of the vegetables gave strong proof 

 of the persuasive power of the cultivator, over the pro 



ductions of our mother earth. Such cabbages, such po 

 tatoes, such beets, such egg plants and tomatoes, &c, 

 &c., as were there, and made the very boards groan 

 again, were calculated to light up the eye of the horti- 

 culturist, with the sparklings of an honest pride. And 

 the Valparaiso squashes, and the pumpkins too— why, 

 they were large enough to make a considerable item in 

 the holiday dinner of a New England town. The melons 

 were but indifferent, the season having proved unfa- 

 vourable. The variety of apples too, was very limited. 

 But the grapes and the peaches, and the pears, and the 

 plums, and the quinces, did make the " mouth water." 

 They were everything the most fastidious and ambi- 

 tious of those who reared them, could wish. We had 

 not supposed such grapes were growing in our vicinity, 

 as were produced by Nicholas Biddle and Nathan Dunn. 



Dahlias of every variety and the greatest richness of 

 colouring, together with numerous bouquets, and fan- 

 ciful designs formed of cut flowers, appropriate to the 

 occasion, helped to give animation and interest to this 

 general manifestation of nature's exuberance. We 

 had almost forgotten to mention that numerous boxes 

 of very fine honey were added to the collection, and 

 gave beautiful proof of the care of the owner, as well 

 as of the industry and skill of the little manufacturer. 



A list of the premiums awarded, will be found in 

 another column. 



Through the kindness of a friend, we have been 

 furnished with a copy of an address delivered in the 

 Fourth month last, at Washington, Mississippi, before 

 the Agricultural, Horticultural, and Botanical Society 

 of Jefferson college, by its president, B. L. C. Wailes. 

 This Society was formed in 183!), and we are told, evi- 

 dences are not wanting, that it has been instrumental 

 in effecting a decided improvement in the condition of 

 the country. Indeed, how should such evidences fail 

 to appear, in a district possessing, as Adams county 

 does, all the elements of Agricultural advancement, 

 and with a Society in its midst, of more than one hun- 

 dred and fifty enterprising individuals, who are well 

 aware of the importance of cherishing those interests, 

 in which it is acknowledged the real prosperity of the 

 country lies. We have had abundant reason in times 

 past, to congratulate ourselves upon the flourishing 

 state of our commerce and manufactures: but we have 

 also, at the same time, been sensible that these were 

 eminently dependent upon agriculture. If we would 

 give solidity and strength to the various departments 

 of industry, we will find they must have their founda- 

 tion upon a judicious culture of the soil. And how 

 shall this object be so readily attained, as by spreading 

 among those who cultivate it, the information neces- 

 sary to enlighten them "upon all subjects connected 

 with their business;" and thus enable them, by an eco- 

 nomical application of labour and a prudent expendi- 

 ture of money, to " accomplish the most successful re- 

 sults." We watch the efforts that are continually in 

 operation among our Western friends, for the improve- 

 ment of their lands and their individual condition, with 

 a great deal of interest and satisfaction. 



We notice that at the Fair which was held on the 

 grounds of the President, R. Y. Wood received a pre- 

 mium for several bacon hams cured seventeen years 

 ago, by Colonel James G. Wood, and which were now 

 perfectly sound and sweet. 



