142 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMER. 



Mat 



Theory and Practice, 



In a recent number of Blatkwood^s Magazine, 

 Bulwer tells the following good story, to illustrate 

 the difference between the mere possession of 

 knowledge and its application in practical life : 



A certain nobleman, very proud of the extent 

 and beauty of his pleasure grounds, chancing one 

 day to call on a small squire, whose garden might 

 cover about half an acre, was greatly struck with 

 the brilliant colors of his neighbor's flowers. "Ay, 

 my Lord, the flowers are well enough," said the 

 squire, "but permit me to show you my grapes." 

 Conducted into an old-fashioned little green house, 

 which served as a vinery, my Lord gazed, with 

 mortification and envy, on grapes twice as fine as 

 his own. "My dear friend," said my Lord, "you 

 have a jewel of a gardener ; let me see him !" The 

 gardener was called — the single gardener — a simple 

 looking young man under thirty. "Accept my 

 compliments on your flower-beds and your grapes," 

 said my Lord, "and tell me if you can, why your 

 flowers are so much brighter than mine, and your 

 grapes so much finer. You must have studied hor- 

 ticulture profoundly." Please your Lordship," 

 said the man, "I have not had the advantage of 

 much education ; I ben't no scholar ; but as to the 

 flowers and the vines, the secret as to treating them 

 just came to me, you see, by chance." 



"By chance ? explain." 



"Well, my Lord, three years ago, master sent me 

 to Lunnon on business of his'n ; and it came on to 

 rain, and I took shelter in a mews, you see." 



"Yes, you took shelter in a mews ; — what then?" 



"And there were two gentlemen taking shelter 

 too ; and they were talking to each other about 

 charcoal." 



"About charcoal ? go on." 



"And one said that it had done a deal o' good in 

 many cases of sickness, and specially in the first 

 stage of the cholera, and I took a note on my mind 

 of that, because we'd had the cholera in our village 

 the year afore. And I guessed the two gentlemen 

 were doctors and knew what they were talking 

 about." 



"I dare say they did ; but flowers and vines don't 

 have the cholera do they ?" 



"No, my Lord ; but they have complaints of their 

 own ; and one of the gentlemen went on to say 

 that charcoal had a special good effect upon all 

 vegetable life, and told a story of a vine-dresser in 

 Germany, I think, who made a very sickly poor 

 vineyard one of the best in all these parts, simply 

 by charcoal dressings. So I naturally pricked up 

 my ears at that, for our vines were in so bad a way 

 that master thought of doing away with them al- 

 together. 'Ay,' said the other gentleman, 'and see 

 how a little sprinkling of charcoal will brighten up 

 a flower-bed.' 



"The rain was now over, and the gentlemen left 

 the mews ; and I thought, 'Well, but before I try 

 the charcoal upon the plants, I had better make 

 some inquiry of them as aren't doctors ; so I went 

 to our nurseryman, who has a deal of book-learn- 

 ing, and I asked him if he'd ever heard of char- 

 coal-dressing being good for vines, and he said he'd 

 read in a book that it was so, but had never tried 

 it. He kindly lent me the book, which was trans- 

 lated from some forren one. And, after I had 

 picked out of it all I could, I tried the charcoal in 



the way the book told me to try it ; and that's how 

 the grapes and the flower-bed came to please you, 

 my Lord. It was a lucky chance that I ever heard 

 those gentlemen talking in the mews, please your 

 Lordship." 



"Chance happens to all," answered the peer, sen- 

 tentiously ; "but to turn chance to account is the 

 gift of the few." 



His Lordship, returning home, gazed gloomily on 

 the hues of his vast parterres ; he visited his vi- 

 neries, and scowled at the clusters ; he summoned 

 his head gardener — a gentleman of the highest re- 

 pute for science, and who never spoke of a cowslip 

 except by its name in Latin. To this learned per- 

 sonage my Lord communicated what he had seen 

 of the benignant effects of charcoal, and produced 

 in proof a magnificent bunch of grapes, which he 

 had brought from the squire's. 



"My Lord," said the gardener, scarcely glancing 



at the grapes, "Squire 's gardcnir must be a 



poor ignorant creature to fancy he had discovered 

 a secret in what is so very well known to every 

 j professed horticulturist. Professor Liebig, my 

 I Lord, has treated of the good effect of charcoal- 

 j dressing, to vines especially ; and it is to be ex- 

 ' plained on these chemical principles" — therewith 

 1 the wise man entered into a profound disputation, 

 . of which his Lordship did not understand a word. 

 j "Well then," said the peer, cutting short the 

 i harangue, "since you know so well that charcoal- 

 ! dressing is good for vines and flowers, have you 

 r ever tried it on mine ?" 



I "I can't say that I have, my Lord ; it did not 

 ' chance to come into my head." 

 I "Nay," replied the peer, "chance put it into your 

 \ head, but thought never took it out of your head." 

 j My Lord, who, if he did not know much about 

 I horticulture, was a good judge of mankind, dis- 

 ! missed the man of learning ; and, with many apol- 

 ogies for seeking to rob his neighbor of such a 

 treasure, asked the squire to transfer to his service 

 I the man of genius. The squire, who thought that 

 ! now the charcoal had been once discoved, any new 

 gardener could apply it as well as the old one, was 

 ■ too happy to oblige my Lord, and advance the for- 

 I tunes of an honest fellow born in his village. His 

 I Lordship knew very well that a man who makes 

 ' good use of the ideas received through chance, will 

 : make a still better use of ideas received through. 

 I study. He took some kind, but not altogether un- 

 ! selfish, pains with the training and education of a 

 I man of genius whom he had gained to his service. 

 I The man is now my Lord's head forester and bai- 

 '■ liff. The woods thrive under him, the farm pays 

 largely. He and my Lord are both the richer for 

 the connnection between them. He is not the less 

 practically painstaking, though he no longer says 

 "ben't" and "his'n;" nor the less felicituously the- 

 oretical, though he no longer ascribes a successful 

 experiment to chance. 



Farming in Union County. 



The wheat crop looks about as well as usual, but 

 less than in former years was put in last fall. 



Clover where sown is quite a refreshing sight. 



We are getting ready to plant all the cotton we 

 think we can cultivate. 



Strawberries are doing well thus far, and for 



.Jr.,. 



