76 



CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



another novelty appears the good points 

 of the former are forgotten, and held in 

 contempt as compared with the value 

 of the one now otlered. I atn led to 

 tliese remarks from a notice in Orchard 



and Garden, I'egarding Jewel Summit, 

 and Crimson-Cluster. This notice is 

 sent for the benefit of those of little or 

 no experience. 



"Consider the plants how they fruit." 



THE SPARROWS' DEATH WARRANT. 



A BIG CONVEXTIOX IJf CENTRAL PARK IX A BELLICOSE MODE. 



THERE was a convention yester- 

 day in the Central Park. Ow- 

 ing to the confusion on the Mall the 

 convention was held under the cedars 

 on the Fifth avenue side, near Sixty- 

 eighth street. 



All the members were in high fea- 

 ther. The subject that had drawn 

 them together was the bill now in the 

 hands of the governor making it a misde 

 meanor to feed a sparrow. The chairman 

 was a lively, fat little fellow, who came 

 to the meeting covered with dust. He 

 had had a little difficulty on the road 

 with a friend who had claimed " first 

 call," on a bluebottle tly. His name 

 was Jack — plain Jack Sparrow, 



In calling the meeting to order the 

 presiding officer declared the new law 

 which makes it a misdemeanor for any 

 person to feed or shelter sparrows was 

 an outrage. It was a bill that was 

 aimed at every bill owned by every 

 member of the convention. This re- 

 mark made a twitter in the audience, 

 and the chairman lifted one leg up 

 under him, cocked his head to one side 

 and looked very knowing. 



" I live in one of the city parks," 

 said one of the speakers, " and never 

 did any one an injury. My family for 

 many generations have been fed and 

 taken care of by the visitors of the 

 park. We never had to soil our claws 

 by scratching for our own living, and 

 even when we saw the worms and 

 insects on the trees, we kept away 

 from the horrid creatures, although 

 they sometimes annoyed us dread- 

 fully." 



The church sparrow followed. His 

 constituents had sent him to the con- 

 vention to have a grievous wrong 

 redressed. " A great beast of a sex- 

 ton has been tearing down the vines that 

 cover the front of our church and des- 

 troyed thus the shelter whei-e hundreds 

 of our homes have been made for many 

 generations. The minister of the 

 church is as great a brute as the sex- 

 ton, for I heard him say only last 

 Sunday, ' I can't hear myself preach 

 for those sparrows. They disturb the 

 peace of the whole congregation. The 

 trustees talk of moving up town to 

 avoid the noise of this neighbourhood, 

 when the only noise to be heard is 

 that of the birds. Pull down every 

 nest and drive them off or they will 

 drive us away.' " 



A house sparrow, who had built his 

 home over the window of an editor's 

 room came next. " My grievance is 

 one that is heart-rending," said he. 

 " My family has the cosiest place 

 imaginable under the brown stone 

 cai'vings of a window. But there is a 

 dreadful creature who comes home just 

 before daylight and lights the gas in 

 the room, where he opens the windows 

 and smokes until my family are nearly 

 smothered. Then, when we get up 

 about sunrise and talk to our neigh- 

 bours across the street he uses the most 

 horrible language and accuses us poor 

 innocent birds of disturbing his sleep. 

 Why doesn't he take his sleep at 

 night and write his editorials in the 

 daytime 1 I believe he is responsible 

 for the new law, if anyone is, for he 



