Remarks on Dwarfing Fruit Trees. 395 



culinary crops, will be found " drawn," as it is termed, by 

 practical men ; and not only deteriorated in size, but in 

 flavor and nutritious qualities. 



There has in later years been a great increase in those 

 interesting little suburban plots, termed amateurs' gardens ; a 

 great many of these are either wrought in part by the pro- 

 prietor himself, or at least under his superintendence. Many 

 of the owners of such gardens are occupied most of the 

 day in matters of trade ; and the pleasures of horticulture 

 are of course enjoyed with a peculiar zest when a leisure 

 moment occurs. To such, a dwarfing system of fruit-culture 

 is invaluable, combining, as it does, the advantages before 

 enumerated, together with little matters of manipulation of 

 a light character, and exceedingly interesting to those who 

 seek relief to the mind from the dull mechanical tedium of 

 commercial affairs. 



Such gardens, it is well known, are for the most part se- 

 verely limited as to space ; yet, by a systematic procedure in 

 regard to fruits, it is astonishing what a collection may be 

 compressed within the limits of one of these recreative 

 homesteads ; in fact, a very excellent miniature collection 

 within an enclosure of a quarter of an acre. 



" Little things are great to little men," according to the 

 old saying ; and these miniature matters, although it may be 

 of a trivial character in the estimation of those who do 

 things by wholesale, yet are conducive to the health and 

 happiness of thousands, producing their daily quota to the 

 gastronomic delights of the household, and feelings of a 

 much higher character to those who " look through nature 

 up to nature's God." 



The ornamental character, too, of a system of dwarfed 

 fruits, although a matter certainly second in importance to 

 their utility, is not to be lost sight of entirely. 



A little garden possessing a miniature collection of fruits 

 and well-grown vegetables is indeed a multum-in-pai'vo 

 affair ; it shows forth at a single glance the triumph which 

 the collective experience of many, very many, years, aided 

 by the lights of science, has at last accomplished, and fur- 



