-J66 



THE GENFSEE FARMER 



has, so profusely, scattered around them. — 

 Associations, like the vernal flowers beneath 

 their feet, are constantly springing up in 

 tbeir tender minds, and influencing their 

 thoughts and volitions, which, in the aggre- 

 gate, form their essential character. Per- 

 ceiving, in the gardens and pleasure grounds, 

 the miniature world which surrounds them, 

 that the flowers precede the fruits, they learn, 

 that their good actions, the best fruits of 

 their lives, should be attended with the gra- 

 ces. 



In these United States, a genial climate, a 

 fertile soil, the nature of our civil institutions, 

 and the character of the inhabitants — all, 

 invite to the peaceful and profitable employ- 

 ments of rural life. It is here, if any where 

 nnder the broad canopy of Heaven, that 

 horticulture will r vive and flourish: it is 

 here, that man, prompted by a lofty and 

 generous philanthropy, will exert he tin- 

 bought energies of his body and soul to pro- 

 mote the greatest sum of human enjoyment : 

 it is here, that the triumphs of art will draw 

 from the bosom of the earth, copious, gush- 

 ing streams of hlessings, which will flowo- 

 ver and enrich the land : it is hare, in the 

 latter day glory, that justice, and mercy, and 

 temperance, and all the virtues, shall pro- 

 claim in songs of praise, the goodness of 

 God. and the manifold beauty of his works. 



From Hie \*-w York Farmer. 



THE COUNTRY FARMER— NO. VIII. 



The true dignity of Manners and Deport- 

 ment. 

 Mr. Fleet, — Having spoken rather con- 

 temptuously of what are failed the ' accom- 

 plishments of a fashionable education, let 

 me say a little about what I consider desira- 

 ble, as to personal manners, as well for us 

 Farmers, country people, as for all others. — 

 Self-respect, is a first requisite of good man- 

 ners, the consciousness of which leads direct- 

 ly to self-possession, on which all true digni- 

 ty of pei son il deportment so essentially de- 

 pends. With a mind at ease, the manners 

 are easy, and graceful. He who is constant- 

 ly on the tenter hooks, seeking superiority 

 of extension, greatness, in the eyes of oth 

 ers, is not only not at ease, himself, but is a 

 sort of disquietet to all those around him — 

 True dignity, with ill the gracefulness of 

 manner that results from it, is the offspring 

 of nature, not of art. He who will always 

 be himself, at h me, abroad, and in all soils 

 of company, may, if he have mind and in- 

 telligence, always be at ease, and every 

 where be received with all the attention that 

 is due to him. The man of affectation, on 

 the contrary, is n ver at ease, because act- 

 ing in an assumed character. There is, a 

 consciousness of rectitude, that which does 

 more toward making the mann rs agreea- 

 ble, than most persons seem to he aware of, 

 as well as in a constant habit of being our- 

 selves, every where, and acting like our- 

 selves. Liars, they say, should have good 

 memories; ami so also should players not 

 merely those of the stage, hut ill who per- 

 sonate characters not truly their own. In 

 order to apply all these remarks, it is neces- 

 sary to consider that the very essence of true 

 politeness, is nothing Minn: nor less than ac- 

 tual civility. He who would always do to oth- 

 ers exactly as he would have others do by him, 

 and act so, cherishing sell respect, and res- 

 pectful regrad lor others, maj ; i where he 

 will, and be every where a man of good 

 manners, The forms of society, however, 



November 19, 183 



are not all the sa:ne; and much that we 

 find, in circles where manners are made the 

 most artificial by excess of studied 'accom- 

 plishments,' has very little to do with mere 

 civility, and even less with the gospel max- 

 im above quoted. Under the idea of polite- 

 ness, we meet with a redundance of un- 

 meaning forms, and so much goodness of 

 exterior, as to make us country folks believe 

 the interior must be bad, where there is so 

 much that seems to us overwrought. The 

 presumption, rather, I should say, is, that all 

 is not right, where there is so much that we 

 deem artificial. This is what so 'bejiutters' 

 our young, country bred people, on first going 

 to town, and what makes them so slow in 

 learning to be as polite as our city cousins. 



In real dignity of character, and in all 

 that ease, and gracefulness of manner, that 

 gives to personal appearance and deport 

 ment such a charm. I have seen as fine mod- 

 els, among country Farmers, as in any of 

 the walks of life. In the higher circles, as 

 to mind, we meet with much less of mere 

 ceremony, in all countries, than in the sub- 

 ordinate ranks. There was less in the house 

 of our Washington. Adams, Jefferson, Mad- 

 ison, Monroe, and Jay, Morris, and the late 

 Chancellor Livingston, than in the hou- 

 ses of most small men, on setting up for 

 gentility. In the circles of those men, 

 country people were perfectly at their ease, 

 and without any occasion to blush for their 

 simplicity of manners. There was much 

 less extravagance, also, in their dress, and in 

 that of the circles in which they moved. — 

 General Washington used often to say, that, 

 of all men he knew, the most polite men 

 w re those who had the least politeness, as a 

 model of which he would name certain Far- 

 mers, whose names are well known to the 

 public. They were good men, and great 

 men but it always appeared to me that the 

 whole sum and substance of t eir ery a- 

 greeable manners, consisted in mere civility, 

 and the abiding influence of the golden rule 

 of the gospel. They had such manners as 

 are formed in the families of intelligent and 

 sensible people on their Farms, in the coun- 

 try, with which they may travel agreeably, 

 every where, among people of mind, each 

 as regardless of the others etiquette, as of 

 his dress. In order to be always perf- ctly at 

 home, in our manners, we have only to be 

 perfectly ourselves, at home, and abroad ; 

 and to consider civility as all that there is, 

 of any importance, in what passes, every 

 where, so far as good sense is concerned, as 

 good breeding. 



Having introduced my readers to some of 

 the Sugar-Works • Parties,' of my youth, 

 they will excuse me for a passing notice of 

 some others, pertinent to the present subject. 

 In the autumn of 1814, during the late war, 

 I had occasion to transact some business 

 with Mr. Madison, now a Fanner, and a ma- 

 gistrate, then President of the United States. 

 He, ■ s is well known, was one of our Men 

 of the Revolution, a fine model, associated 

 with as line a model for Women, in the late 

 Mrs. Madison. Mr. Madison was unwell, 

 confined to his bed, and I was invited to the 

 house, the House of the Nation, the ' Palace,' 

 for the time being, of our Presidents. There 

 was a spare bed for me, with social affability 

 in the family, and I soon found myself as 

 much .j i home, in my manners, as il it my 

 own home. Here were 'Parties,' often e- 

 nough.butno affectation of any thing better 

 than civility, in manners, and there was so 



little of mere ceremony, idle etiquette, that, 

 though I had found much fault with the con 

 duct of the administration, through the war, 

 I began to suspect there had been too much 

 of prejudice, in my estimate of the men, and 

 so, in fact, I have found it. I there met with 

 the principal men of the government, and 

 had them, in my way, n a closcfand inti- 

 mate inspection. One afternoon, just after 

 a Cabinet Council Meet ng, while the rooms 

 were filled with company, a stout, portly, and 

 athletic old man, in the habit of a Farmer, 

 came up and shook hands very cordially 

 with Mr. Madison. It struck me at the time, 

 that hi manner was such as to say, though 

 with perfect modesty, I, also, am a man. — 

 There was about him an air of conscious 

 dignity, such as we have been wont to con- 

 ceive of an old Roman Senator, that could 

 exchange civilities with any body, but cringe 

 to nobody. He had a daughter with him, a 

 Farmer's daughter, and her manners were 

 worth) of the sire, and the Farm. When I 

 was introduced to them, we shook hands like 

 old acquaintances. No man in the room, 

 was more perfectly at his ease, or treateil 

 with more attention, by all the company, 

 than this Firmer. As the company dropped 

 off, and the evening advanced, the circle be- 

 came move and more domestic, gathered a- 

 round the fire, and engaged in conversation. 

 The topics were diversified, partly of pub 

 lie business and passing events, recent and 

 past, and much was said of the days of the 

 Revolution, and of Washington : for this 

 Farmer had been one of his most confiden- 

 tial friends and counsellors. He was still a 

 Farmer, as in the days of Washington, and 

 loved and honored husbandry, upon which 

 no small share of our evening's conversation 

 turned, and in which I heard much of Wash- 

 ington's ardent attachment to Farming, and 

 Farmers — no small praise of our business. 

 Mr. Monroe. Mr. Dallas, and Mrs. Madi- 

 son, with some others, of that evening cir- 

 cle, have gone to a better world : but should 

 Mr- Madison, or Mr. Rush, chance to see 

 these numbers, they will please accept a 

 passing tribute to exalted worth, and may 

 learn with regret, that the justice, then de- 

 manded of the government, is still within !,' 

 from The Country Farmer. 

 Siptembcr G, 1831. 



From tho American Farmer. 



PRINCES' NURSERY AT FLUSHING, 



N. Y. 



Having recently visited the Linnajan Bo- 

 tanic Garden and Nurseries of Wm. Prince 

 & Sons, at Flushing, we deem it of suffi- 

 cient public interest to give the result of our 

 observations. This we must premise as 

 wholly uninfluenced by partiality or by the 

 slightest hint of its being desired by the 

 proprietors, who will receive the first intima- 

 tion of our intention from this article itself. 

 This is proper too, on another account ; no- 

 tices of many of the Philadelphia establish- 

 ments by a vi^iiing committee of the Penn- 

 sylvania Horticultural Society, and of those 

 in our own vicinity, as well as several oth- 

 ers near New-York and Boston, have within 

 a short time appearsd in our columns. Hut 

 even in the absence of all these reasons, tha 

 real merits ol the establishment itself, and 

 its importance to the Horticultural interests 

 of our country, would render this notice of 

 it a matter of duty on our part. We spent 

 six days in examining the grounds and hou- 

 ses, and whatever we may heretofore have 



