Notes and Gleanings. 169 



plenty of spurs will remain; and several of them, I am glad to see, are furnisl.ed 

 with double shoots. Hurrah ! one for wood, the other for fruit. Alternate 

 pruning. 



'■'■Black. — My trees were covered with blossoms; but not a quarter have set: 

 they strew the ground, and make me think of a place said to be paved with good 

 intentions. I believe those little busy bees have knocked half of them off. I 

 wish they would improve each shining hour, instead of injuring my property. 

 I saw a great bumble fello.v ou a very promising blossom, making it quite top- 

 heavy. 



" White. — I suspect, that, if all the blossoms had set, they would have been 

 more than my trees could bear. A dozen peaches on each tree would not be a 

 bad crop at a period when my trees can hardly be said to have arrived at years 

 of discretion ; and more than a dozen blossoms have set. In any case, I need 

 not take the trouble to thin them, — an operation recommended in the books, 

 but requiring great strength of mind. By the by, I remember to liave lieard 

 that bees are invaluable ; and they seem to have been sent tor the special pur- 

 pose of scattering the pollen, which it would be tedious to effect with a camel's- 

 hair brush. How wonderful is the economy of Nature ! 



'■^ Black. — Alas ! some boys have been throwing stones over the wall, and have 

 smashed several panes of glass. Whaf-wretches boys are ! I should like to give 

 them all a sound cuffmg. At this rate, a tine glazier's bill I shall have to pay ! 



" White. — Boys will be boys. I was a boy once myself, and a bit of a pickle. 

 I am fond of pickles, and appreciate exuberant spirits. There is something 

 very charming in that freedom from care, that recklessness of consequences, 

 and that mischievous disposition, which characterizes boys. It was very natural, 

 now, of those urchins, who have accidentally broken my glass, to have been 

 testing their projective powers ; and it is a comfort to reflect that the apertures 

 they have made in my roof will materially increase the ventilation of my house, — 

 no mean factor, I am told, in the product of orchard-house success. 



'■'■Black. — The leaves that have made their appearance look queer. What 

 makes them seem as if they had been twisted in curl-papers ? Why, I declare, 

 they are covered with aphides ! Whence did they all spring from, I wonder ? It 

 is of no use kiUing off one when a thousand come to his funeral. No wonder 

 flies were considered one of the plagues of Egypt. I will make instant arrange- 

 ments for giving my house a thorough fumigation. 



" White. — Others are quite as much bothered with insects as I am. Is there 

 not comfort in the thought .^ I cannot help feeling glad that so many innocent 

 creatures have been indebted to me for the jolly lime they have had of it. Why, 

 my house must have been to them a perfect Elysium. My man, who, bellows in 

 hand, is busy in the work of fumigation, must have the lungs of a rhinoceros to 

 stand that smoke : he seems to like it ; for he has a pipe in his mouth as well. 

 The smoke almost stifled me, and the one wiiiff I had of it sufficed to convince 

 me of its necessarily fatal effects upon entomological existence." 



And so on to the end of the chapter. White gets the better of it, as is al- 

 ways the case where one is determined to succeed. 



The determination to succeed is success half achieved. 



VOL. n. 23 



