Critique on the November Number. 165 



as you truthfully remark : one that is yet comparatively in its 

 infancy in this country. The advice which you give to improvers 

 is certainly consonant, and if acted upon, must afford satisfactory 

 results. Permit me to promulg-ate my private opinion, which is, 

 that ' ponds,' under any circumstances, should be classed with 

 nuisances generally. They are always inexpressive ; they insinu- 

 ate neither beauty, repose nor breadth ; their proportions are too 

 limited to contribute characteristic effect ; and lastly, if not con- 

 tinually cared for, they become reservoirs of pestilential exhala- 

 lations, and therefore I vote ihej be summarily tabooed. True, 

 the pond may be used as an asylum for fish, or as a nursery for 

 increasing fine varieties of the finny tribe, but even in this case, 

 the lake presents superior facilities and accommodations. There- 

 fore I say, let us, by all means, have a lake whose capacity is 

 ample for boating — a delightful health producing recreation by 

 the way — and also for piscatorial sport, beyond "pin hooks" and 

 " shiners." No true sportsman is satisfied with anything of less 

 dimensions than a veritable " gudgeon." 



Thoughts from my Garden Seat — " My life on it." The individu- 

 al who penned the article with the above caption, possesses 

 a soul that occasionally strays beyond sublunary ephemera, and 

 delights herself with reveling in the fields of Parnassus, where 

 perpetual verdure and bright skies hold holiday. Beside being a 

 rare intellectual treat, the author inculcates a moral, the influence 

 is correct, and the conceit quite piquant. The nest person who 

 engages my attention, is our practical friend, Mr. Snowden, with 



Three New Plums — Of course I know nothing about them, but 

 will take advantage of the opportunity, to relate the method I 

 pursue in order to exterminate that determined depredator, the 

 curcidio. Mr. Downing, a few years before his death, advised me 

 to experiment with pungent manures. So I fenced in my plum 

 yard and gave freedom to half a dozen chubby Suffolk pigs, and a 

 score or two of barn-yard " scratchei^." The good effect was im- 

 mediately obvious, for I succeeded in obtaining a goodly quantity 

 of plums, and have continued to do so up to the present time. 

 The swine, doubtless, eat the larvae which is concealed in the fruit, 

 and thus prevent their development. But the curculio, we are told, 

 is migratory, and traverses a' wide range. I do not dispute it. The 

 curculio is a precocious insect. It appears to he adverse to deposit- 

 ing its progeny where they are systematically destroyed, or where 



