Notes and Gleanings. 363 



knowledge, the common people are enabled, at little expense, to have a cheerful 

 spot of sunshine and color, or shade and refinement, of their own creation, from 

 a few trees or shrubs, or selections from the world of flowers. Our cities, when 

 they spread out their gardens for inspection, are cultivating and developing the 

 tastes and improving the aspirations of the people. The progress of civiliza- 

 tion and art in a country tends directly to the love and study of Nature ; and 

 the study and love of Nature, in turn, improves art and norals. Whoever loves 

 Nature must be led to adore its Author. Whoever watches the opening and 

 painting of a bud, and sees how true to time and law is all growth, cannot believe 

 that blind chance controls it. Whoever contributes to our innocent pleasures 

 adds to the sum of human happiness, and becomes a benefactor. Every one 

 who helps to advance the knowledge and taste of the masses helps to keep 

 them pleasantly and innocently occupied, and diverts them from dangerous ways. 

 They can thus be made to observe more closely, and find satisfaction in the very 

 wilds about them. Even the lichens and the fungi become vehicles of pleasure. 

 Money devoted to ornamenting the landscape is not lost. Let the environs of 

 a city be made as beautiful as possible ; let the drives be as charming to the 

 eye as they are easy to the carriage ; let wealth be spread out in green and 

 grounds to cheer the heart of the stranger : it will, ere long, bring him back 

 again, and bring friends with him in time to share that wealth thus opened to 

 Ws view. The trader from afar will carry home something more than the mer- 

 chandise he has bought ; and, when he wishes to buy again, the thought of busi- 

 ness will be mingled with a sensation of pleasure. A love of Nature* is the 

 elixir of life ; for lie lives longest who gets the most of life." 



Influence of the Graft upon the Roots. — A valued correspondent 

 on the Rock River, in Northern Illinois, makes the following query and state- 

 ment : — 



" Have you ever observed the effect of the graft on the roots of the stock ? 

 You may root-graft, for instance, the Yellow Belljlower on roots of seedling 

 .stocks, taking them at random just as they come ; and you may graft the Fall 

 Pippin on a portion of the same stocks, and cultivate the young plants in the 

 same manner. When you come to take up the young trees at three years old, 

 you will find all the Bellflowers furnished with a mass of fibrous roots ; and all 

 the Fall Pippins will have a few sturdy roots, and not many fibres upon them. 

 Other varieties are provided with roots that are more or less characteristic of 

 each." 



PYequent reference has been made to the influence exerted by the stock upon 

 the graft by writers and speakers at pomological gatherings ; and it has been 

 pretty generally agreed among the highest authorities that the influence in that 

 direction was limited by a very narrow circle : but here is a new question, or a 

 new aspect of the question. And yet it is not entirely new ; for allusion to this 

 class of facts has already been made by some authors, and facts similar to those 

 mentioned by this querist must have been frequently noticed by every observant 

 nursery-man when taking up trees for his customers. Indeed, there is as much 

 character in the roots of trees as in their branches and foliag-e : and the root 



