118 



Sljc Jarmcr's iUontl)lt> faisitor. 



Wonderful Vegetation. 



We liave on our premises about six square 

 rods planted about the 20th May of that kind of 

 maize called Virginia corn, thousands of bushels 

 of which are imported from the Southern Slates 

 for the annual supply of New England, paid for 

 in exchange for our manufactures, lumber, or 

 other surplus products. Some of the tallest of 

 this corn is now in the last days of August just 

 forming ears high as man can reach, from which 

 the accustomed silk is protruding. The corn 

 was drill-planted eight or ten inches apart in 

 rows three and a half feet distant : some of it 

 stretches full fourteen feet in height. Tour square 

 rods have been cut down from time to time, and 

 for several weeks have at night supplied the 

 short feed in time of drought for seven cows. 

 The part remaining would furnish one ton oi 

 green feed, stalk and leaf, for each square rod. 

 Only think of one hundred and sixty tons of 

 vegetation growing out of the ground in ninety 

 days upon a single acre. The corn seems to be 

 of the height of forest trees of several years' 

 growth. 



We have also, from twenty kernels each of 

 two ears raised by friend John Page in Illinois, 

 corn full ten feet high, planted on the 20th of 

 June. In two months and ten days it has reach- 

 ed this height— it was planted in vacant spots of 

 two rows of beans where the seed had failed, 

 and has had a more rapid growth than any thing 

 we have seen of standing vegetables. It is now 

 in silk, and although nearly double the size aud 

 height of the common corn grown in this neigh- 

 borhood, we think, would here come nearly to 

 maturity in ninety to one hundred days of such 

 a summer as the present. Seeing the great lux- 

 uriance of this as well as the southern corn on 

 good lands here, we can scarcely wonder that 

 the great fertile valley of the West flowing its 

 waters through the Mississippi might be made 

 sufficient to feed nearly the whole population ol 

 the globe. 



Endicott Pear Tree. 



The famous Pear Tree, planted by Gov. Endi- 

 cott in 1628, (203 years) on his Farm in Danvers, 

 then a part of Salem, has this year born three 

 bushels of Pears. The species is Bon-Chretien. 

 This tree has survived many generations of men, 

 and is almost the first settler remaining.— Salem 

 Gazelle. 



We take the above from a paper printed in 

 1831. We should like to know what has be- 

 come of the old tree. Whatever may now be 

 its situation it has surely given the lie to the 

 complaints of those who say " it does no good to 

 set out fruit trees, they do not last long enough 

 to pay the trouble." We were told a few years 

 since by a friend, that a peach tree was then 

 alive on his paternal lands which had lived sev- 

 enty years. — Berkshire Co. Agriculturist. 



Eighteen years have transpired since the above 

 notice of the Salem Gazette : we recollect the 

 proprietor of the Gazette almost fifty years ago. 

 Thomas C. Gushing, long time its publisher, was 

 a most estimable man and citizen. It is nearly 

 thirty years since he showed us about the public 

 establishments at Salem — of these the East In- 

 dia Museum, whose curiosities were gathered 

 from the four quarters of the globe by ship navi- 

 gators, more remarkable from the port of Salem 

 than from any other port of the United States 

 for their enterprise and daring in visiting un- 

 known climes and unexplored seas in pursuit of 

 that wealth for which Salem was early celebra- 

 ted, was then to us a matter of curiosity, as ex- 

 hibiting the habits and costumes of the aborigi- 

 nals existing in all time beyond the knowledge 



of the civilized world. Even at that time the 

 great man and philosopher, the familiar corres- 

 pondent and friend of Priestley and Jefferson, 

 William Bentley, had departed from a life ter- 

 restrial to a life celestial, as assured in the eye 

 of faith which " bopeth all things." Bentley, 

 year in and year out, was the voluntary contribu- 

 tor for the Salem Register, a semi-weekly paper, 

 long the political rival of the Salem Gazette : 

 both papers, under the same names, are contin- 

 ued—both now embrace the same side of the 

 political question. Bentley and Gushing are 

 known and recollected by i'ew of the present 

 generation of readers of the two papers. Yet the 

 Endicott pear tree still stands and bears fruit as 

 it was wont to do one hundred years ago. The 

 new railroad from Salem to Lawrence runs so 

 near to it, that the tree was readily pointed out 

 to us while passing it one day the present sum- 

 mer by Ebenezer Sutton, Esq., who resides in 

 Danvers, not far from it. There are both bear- 

 ing apple and pear trees in the vicinity of Bos- 

 ton and Salem that r.re over two hundred years 

 of age. 



A pear tree standing beside the ancient road 

 leading from West Cambridge to Waterlow n, as 

 the earliest event of our recollection, was stricken 

 and shivered by lightning fifty-nine years ago the 

 present summer. The tree sensibly felt the wound, 

 for it is now smaller in body and limb than it was 

 at that distant period. It stood upon the premises 

 then occupied in the youth of those parents who 

 now both sleep in the dust. Its fruit was of 

 that acrid verjuice character that made it good 

 for no eating until late in the fall ; and then it 

 was good as for baking or cooking with the 

 sweetening of treacle. Late in the winter or 

 spring, barrelled and kept free from air aud frost, 

 it became mellowed and excellent for eating, 

 having a peculiar luscious flavor, equal to the 

 best pears that are early matured. Previous to 

 the stroke of lightning, that venerable tree, 

 which we may now count as having been plant- 

 ed there by one of onr ancestors as many at 

 least as one hundred and fifty years ago, annual- 

 ly, just before the frost set in, yielded five, ten 

 and sometimes a dozen barrels of the large sized 

 pears. We saw and marked this tree but the 

 other day : diminished in its proportion of limb, 

 it still continues to bear fruit. This appeared to 

 be smaller than it was when gathered of old ; 

 for it is over fifty years since we tasted of the 

 pears. Its present owner, who is of our name, 

 informed us that the old tree had kept up its 

 character, and its product was so well known 

 that, although bitter and repulsive when taken 

 green to the Boston market, the pears readily 

 sold always for not less than three dollars the 

 barrel. 



scripture truth as above and beyond all sectari- 

 anism. Much of the teaching of the present 

 day regards rather the promotion of sectarian 

 dogmas than the true impress of religious truth. 

 All must acknowledge that the discourse of Fa- 

 ther Mathew is one exception to the failing 

 which protestants most charge upon Roman 

 catholics. 



From the Boston Post. 



What good can come out of Nazareth"! 



The following account of the first sermon 

 preached at Boston after his arrival in this coun- 

 try by Father Mathew is from the Boston Post: 

 being mere, heads of the discourse, the beauty of 

 the original is undoubtedly marred. The mere 

 protestant sectarian may have taught himself to 

 believe that no good can come from the religious 

 teaching of a Romish priest; but how beautiful 

 would the words of his discourse be deemed 

 coming from the mouth of one of our own New 

 England preachers? The truth is, that there is 

 a great benefit pervading every religious denom- 

 ination founded on the precepts of the Saviour, 



FATHER MATHEWS SERMON AT THE CATHOLIC 

 CATHEDRAL. 



Yesterday forenoon, the Rev. Theobald Mathew 

 preached at the Cathedral, in Franklin street, to 

 a vast congregation, from the text, " O Lord our 

 God, how admirable is thy name in all the earth." 

 — Psalms, ch. 8, v. 10. He first adverted to the 

 natural theology suggested by the whole psalm, 

 saying that the amazing regularity displayed in 

 the works of creation, the alternations of the sea- 

 sons, seed time and harvest, the day and the 

 night, proved that an all-wise and sovereign 

 power presides over and governs the universe, 

 and that the Almighty ruler is as wise as good, 

 and as just as powerful, and that whenever it 

 seems to be otherwise to mortal understanding, 

 it is on account of onr inability to comprehend 

 his grand designs and means for accomplishing 

 his purposes. But the main object of his dis- 

 course, he said, was to consider the evils of the 

 moral world, in regard to which short-sighted 

 man was most prone to question the wisdom or 

 goodness of the Creator. Some of his hearers 

 might be of this class, for there was much in the 

 condition of their suffering country which they 

 found difficult to explain, it being the most 

 christian and catholic country in the world. To 

 our limited reason this is incomprehensible, until 

 we advance to the great truth, that through the 

 medium of religion our afflictions become our 

 chief blessings. When we come to realize this 

 fact, we shall submit to affliction without a mur- 

 mur. The want of religion swells the heart 

 with impatience — sharpens the arrow— gives 

 sting to the dan. 



The subject had been forced upon his atlen- 

 fiori by the multiplied and long-continued afflic- 

 tions he had witnessed ; and he had sought for 

 consolation where alone it could be found, — in a 

 firm faith in the goodness of God, who never 

 permits calamities without a beneficial purpose. 

 Sudden changes from prosperity to poverty — 

 from happiness to despair — from life to death, 

 without the interval of a moment hardly, might 

 seem to the irreligious mind to be inconsistent 

 with design. But tbe believer could be made to 

 understand that the caprice of fortune and the 

 passions of unjust men were not the whole 

 causes of our afflictions. He sees in them ilie 

 manifestations of the power of Him who walks 

 invisible on the wings of t'le wind; but if he 

 have cherished christian aspirations, lie will not 

 say of such afflictions or disappointments — "A 

 God defeats my projects, and confounds my 

 hopes." Instead of evils he will see blessings in 

 them. It is our own discontent which gives all 

 its sharpness to the sling. In that frame of mind, 

 we forget that eternal glory and happiness are 

 the prizes to be won by patient suffering on 

 earth. When surrounded with prosperity, aud 

 in the enjoyment of health, our sense of depen- 

 dence on God, and our obligations to obey his 

 law, are often lulled asleep, and ne become re- 

 gardless of Him, of heaven, and the wants of our 

 fellow creatures. We see this in cases where 

 by some sudden fluctuation in the affairs of life, 

 a man unexpectedly attains wealth or power. 

 We see him puffed up with pride. He forgets 

 and despises his early friends. The beauty of 

 charity no longer forms the theme of his conver- 

 sation. Piety is a virtue which he leaves for the 

 poor. What shall bring him down to his true 

 nature and his duty ? Adversity. Yes, afllic- 

 tions are the sure messengers of the divine favor 

 and affection. Regarded in this light, the only 

 one compatible with the position that the Crea- 

 tor is at once all-wise and all-merciful, we see 

 the important office of religion in the economy 

 of life, enabling us to derive benefit from the 

 most grievous misfortunes. How wicked then 

 is it in those who seek to disturb the religious 



the beauty of which more abundantly appeal's 



by those who observe the true teachings of faith of others, because it denies to themselves 



