HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 15 



CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS— JANUARY. 



FRUIT. 



In our progress through life, it is often instructive to pause "and cast a 

 few short, rapid glances to the past," so that we may benefit by former ex- 

 perience in shaping our future course. This is imperatively necessary in 

 connection with the study of our present subject. Vegetable Physiology is a- 

 subject of vast extent ; and so far as it is rendered applicable to practical 

 purposes, is only in its infancy. Our progress in this respect is slow; this 

 is desirable rather than otherwise, since it is expedient that we should not 

 depart from the path that experience has proved to be safe, until the pro- 

 posed improved substitute has also been rigorously subjected to impartial and 

 decidedly effective trials. The cultivation of the soil and its vegetable pro- 

 ductions has always been a fruitful theme for discussion. Dogmatic asser- 

 tions founded on isolated facts on the one hand, and theoretical dogmas based 

 on superficial observation on the other, have been the bane of practical pro- 

 gress. Those who have given much studied attention to the subject are pre- 

 pared to encounter those conflicting opinions, aware that a science subject 

 to so many varied influences cannot be read alike by all. It behoves us, 

 therefore, to bear with each other, and not ridicule honest investigations, 

 however much at variance with our own pre-conceived ideas. Such ridicule 

 can proceed only from illiterate and shallow-minded individuals who are ever 

 ready to give the bold negative to everything that exceeds their own limited 

 knowledge. We would refer all such to the reply of Agassiz, when Hugh 

 Miller told him that some of his opinions relating to his discoveries in fossil 

 remains seemed to himself so extraordinary, that he was afraid to communi- 

 cate them. Agassiz replied, " Do not be deterred, if you have examined 

 minutely, by any dread of being deemed extravagant; the possibilities of ex- 

 istence run so deeply into the extravagant, that there is scarcely any con- 

 ception too extraordinary for nature to realize." 



As a fundamental principle in good culture, draining is now attaining that 

 paramount attention it undoubtedly deserves. There are certain soils where 

 no necessity exists for under-ground drains so far as the removal of water is 

 concerned, such as are on gravelly or sandy subsoils. But the removal of 

 water is not the only good effected by draining ; the increased facilities for 

 a renewal of the atmospheric gases to the roots of plants, and increased tem- 

 perature of the soil are also worthy of notice. Where land is the least in- 

 clined to wet, draining is of far more importance'than manure ; the presence 

 of air is necessary to decompose and disintegrate manures, and when soil is 

 saturated with water, air is to a corresponding degree excluded. Instances 



