60 



FACT NUMBER THREE. 



should be of a choice character ; — dry, warm, and quick, and 

 free from stone, grass, shade and harbors for insects. But why 

 demand such select and rare quality of ground ? Because this 

 is the soil which recieves the seed of the future tree ; — the 

 soil which, by a secret process of nature, unwraps the sleep- 

 ing germ and wakes the tender shoot to life. In this soft and 

 vivifying mold, the stem is formed and thrown upward to 

 be nursed in the air by the kiss of the breeze and the sun- 

 beam, and the root is drawn downward to extract its nutri- 

 ment as a child draws its life from the breast of the mother. 

 Now, if that soil be cold, or wet, or barren, — if it be a sour 

 clay, or a sterile sand-bank, — if it lie in the shade of the forest, 

 the hedge-row, or the wild grass, what must be the nature 

 of the nourishment afforded to the young plant? What 

 would be said of a mother's designs upon her child, who, in 

 calling in the aid of a wet nurse, should advertise for one 

 with a cankered breast ! Would she intend for the young 

 sprout of humanity, a fair and healthy growth, and a long 

 and happy life, or would she not purposely entail a sickly ex- 

 istence and a premature grave ? If, then, foul intent would lie 

 against the mother, with what design shall the nurseryman be 

 charged, who, year in and year out, and for whole loustrums 

 of years, coolly prepares and deliberately vends to an unsus- 

 pecting and honestly confiding community, many thousands 

 of nursery fruit trees formed on seedling plants which have 

 been nourished from the seed upward only at the cankered 

 breast ! — seedling plants, gathered from all the winds of 

 heaven, and all the bogs and waste lands of the earth ! — 

 sick at heart and eaten up by vermin at the root ! The simple 

 idea of such plants, brings to mind the enquiry of the Pro- 

 phet at the valley of dry bones : — Neighbor, can such seed- 

 ling plants live? Nurseryman, thou knowest that each 

 and every hope of life must perish ! 



We speak advisedly and within the bounds of fact, when 

 we say that the business of digging seedling roots, employs 



