720 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



riveted till lie is forced to exclaim, and with necessary admiration every 

 time he beholds it, how beautiful! how beautiful! surpassing- grand! 

 exceeding all description language can portray. A sight that ravishes 

 the senses, till overwhelmed with the vision, one is lost in the loveliness of 

 the scene. Never do I enter the orchard at such a time, but the desire, too 

 strong to be concealed, finds utterance in the expression, that every one 

 could feast on these ravishing views! These orchard views, at such a 

 time, most truly elevate the soul and give it sublime repose. Here it is 

 the heart, burdened with care and wearied with labor, finds rest. Here the 

 serenity of nature in its highest t^'pes breathes upon the soul a silence, 

 hushing all its turmoils, till peace and contentment reign supreme. It is 

 not the grandeur of the forest that subdues into tenderness, it is not the 

 majesty of the cataract that awes into silence, it is the sweet melting of 

 the heart with nature's loveliest scenes, that seem too pure for earth, pre- 

 figuring the paradise above, that fills the soul with benevolence and love. 

 xlt must have been in I'cference to this department of terracultiire that 

 the remark was made, "Agriculture is the most beneficent of all pursuits of 

 man." In every age of the world it has been the greatest civilizer; the 

 evidence of which is found in the fact, that whenever a tribe or nation has 

 devoted itself to agriculture in obedience to the rules of husbandry, though 

 in its simplest and rudest forms, it has become great and powerful, while 

 the nation following the hunt or chase have become enfeebled and fijially 

 extinct. The nation or people alone, who have been long civilized b3' agri- 

 culture as a refining process, have passed on to a higher level through 

 which they have been disciplined to appreciate the pleasures of orchard 

 life, a type at least of the Eden Adam occupied before sin entered. 



ARRANGEMENT OF TREES IN THE ORCHARD. 



The pleasures of the orchard are enhanced by the artistic effect that is 

 produced by a proper adjustment of the trees in the orchard. It has been 

 remarked that in floriculture, more than half the art consists in bringing 

 out and setting forth the distinctive merits of the plants, and so arranging 

 them as to their position in the plat, relatively to other plants of the same 

 or other variety, as to exhibit to the spectator their distinctive marks, if 

 he would develop some new beauty hitherto unperceived, or just now for 

 the first time developed under his fostering hand. Thus it is said the florist 

 becomes an artist and an inventor. This is also true of the orchardist. 

 Here in this department of horticulture will the mind most fertile in expe- 

 riments become the most successful in expedients, in which no small share 

 of the beauty and delight, as well as profit of the orcliavd consist. If 

 nature has given to the pursuer even a spark of the love of the beautiful, 

 it will be developed oftentimes in the orchard and garden into the strength 

 of a passion, that he will find as a presiding genius inspiring him at every 

 step, in his work teaching him to do this or that for its artistic impression.. 

 And so from day to day the pleasures he experiences in his work under 

 such developed taste, most abundant!}^ rewards him for his toil. In his 

 efforts to produce choice fruits, he accepts the fact, that his success will 

 depend not only on good management, nor simply on the enriching and 

 cultivation of the soil, but also on the judicious training of the body and 



