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1852.] THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. 145 



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^garden, or have the moral wants of criminals ever been -considered in Q?A 

 this most important particular. Is the criminal no longer a man 1 (V 

 can he pass hour by hour, and day by day and never dream of the \J 

 bright flowers which in the earlier days of innocence bloomed around \ 

 his path ; might not the glorious sight of such, impress him once more 

 with moral sentiments, or if he must remain a criminal pent up from 

 the mass of society, an outcast from their family, yet cared for and 

 protected, being a brother — can he not labour by his hands, producing 

 food, while he protects his frame from disease by enervating toil ; 

 breathing even in his misery, the pure air of Heaven, borne to him 

 over the trifling W T alls which hide from him the busy world, but which 

 cannot outclose the sun or air, or rain, or wind. We fear not but a 

 day will come, when the unfortunate mortal, short-sighted and weak 

 minded enough to break the civil laws of the society in which he 

 moves, will be reformed by the sweets of manual labour in the farm 

 and garden. When the scaffold shall not be re-erected, but the un- 

 forgiven of man shall toil for his own and his fellow men's advan- 

 tage, while he is permitted to live a prisoner, bound by the laws of 

 civil society, for the term of his natural life. We purpose now 

 monthly to speak of Horticulture as a reproductive process, whereby 

 a large amount of food may be raised by congregated bodies in pub- 

 lic institutions, and for the present offer a few hints obtained from a 

 correspondent, as to the grounds of Girard College. Every Philadel- 

 phian, as well as every lover of his kind, exults at the prospect of the 

 massive pile of marble which stands on the north-west portion of our 

 city, around it is spread a lawn and shrubbery and exercise ground, 

 and a little distant a large vegetable garden or truck patch ; with the 

 produce of this truck patch, and the proceeds of grass in the shape of 

 hay from that lawn, we are now concerned. There are, we 

 are informed, about twelve acres ; ten acres yielding grass; with 

 two and a half acres occupied with vegetables. The amount of 

 manual labour employed to work the whole varies, according to the 

 season, at times as many as six men have been employed, one man is 

 more generally the extent of the assistance afforded the gardener. 

 The gardener, Mr. Jones, is an active man, and anxious, we be- 

 lieve, to reflect credit on the Managers of the Institution as well 

 as to fulfil his personal duties. Works of alteration and improve- 

 ment have for the past twelve-months absorbed a large portion of 

 the labour supplied, as may be seen from the following memorandum : 

 Number of days spent, — April 22,j, May 8(H, June 77-1 — reckoning 

 men as days. Total in 3 months, 180 days or 2 men per day for the 3 

 months. During this period with the assistance of about ten pupils 

 of the College from fourteen years upwards, there was taken off and 

 saved 16 tons 12 cwt., 2qrs., of Hay at $20, and all other neces- 

 sary operations proceeded with appertaining to such an establishment. 

 The garden crops of vegetables engross a large share of attention, and 

 after a careful inspection, I do not hesitate to say, that they will 

 compare with those of any similar establishment; Mr. Jones obtained 

 the Premium for his Tomatoes at the monthly meeting of the, Penn- 

 sylvania Society, and to our own knowledge, he gathered tomatoes 

 about the 21st, of June, in quantity. We shall take care to furnish 

 our readers with the annual product of this two and a half acres un- i 

 der the cultivation of Mr. Jones, an assistant and some pupils, who I L 

 :- fear are not very profitable helpers; when the hoes are sharp, and the c\ 

 i^ crops tedious to thin. j»J 



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