166 
FOREST AND STREAM 
where they are to grow and flower, you have only to tie 
them neatly to small stakes and leave them to go on grow¬ 
ing while you look a little to the half hardy annuals. Those, 
you have keen informed, need the aid of artificial heat to 
grow and perfect them well, and to assist and stimulate an 
early germination. You will understand, however, that 
this is not an absolute necessity of the plant. Yet by start¬ 
ing them in the hot bed you gain some time, and it is a 
profitable exercise in plant growing, as it gives you [confi¬ 
dence in your ability to go on with your newly acquired 
knowledge of gardening with some promise of success. 
Many of the half hardy annuals are self sowing; that is, 
they ripen their seed and it falls to the earth in the autumn 
like the portulacca. The seeds of this plant remain in the 
ground during the winter, and in June spring up vigor¬ 
ously. I have had very fine beds of the portulacca which 
came from seed sown in the fall. You will if you give 
close attention to the raising under glass of the astor, zin¬ 
nia, balsam, and several others of this class of plants, gain 
not only time but magnificent plants, particularly of the 
zinnia. Here you can try the pot system, and thus you 
will add to your list many other plants you could not obtain 
so well by any other means. Use four inch pots, and fill 
with prepared earth, and sink in the bed to a level with the 
earth of the same. A few crock shreds should be placed 
in the bottom of each pot, planting your seed as in ordi¬ 
nary hot bed surface. Your principal care is in not cover¬ 
ing delicate seeds too deep. In order to prevent future 
mistakes, liave some thin labels with the names of the 
seeds sown in the pots, and stick one in each pot for future 
assistance, as nothing is more annoying to a good gardener 
than to lose the name of a prized variety of seed or plant. 
Remember, here, that you need a thermometer within your 
frame, particularly if you are a new beginner, and remem¬ 
ber, again, that the temperature within should in no case 
exceed seventy-five or eighty degrees. I have successfully 
treated the cypress vine and thunbergia in this manner, 
and recommend it as one of the easiest ways for obtaining 
good plants of these choice and beautiful tender flowers. 
Leaving you now to proceed with your already acquired 
knowledge, and your transplanting of plants into their fu¬ 
ture positions, we will in our next paper carry you through 
a chapter in the science of garden flowers upon what are 
called the tender annuals, and what you should do in order 
to have a fine show of these beauties of the garden. 
Ollipod Quill. 
pW ™ Will our University correspondents kindly send us their most recent 
catalogues . 
Secretaries and friends of Athletic , Base-Ball, Cricket and other out¬ 
door Clubs will kindly mail their contributions not later than Monday in 
each week. k 
--The St. George’s Cricket Club held its annual dinner at 
Sutherland’s on Saturday, April 18th, Mr. John G. Dale, 
the President of the Club presiding. Toasts and speeches 
were in order and the game of cricket, it was shown, has 
rapidly increased in this country; nineteen new members 
were elected. In addition to the usual matches with local 
clubs arrangements are being made with the clubs at Phila¬ 
delphia, Boston, Toronto, Syracuse, also a match will be 
played with the Boston Base Ball Club before their 
departure for England in July. 
Philadelphia, April 9, 1874. 
Editor Forest aed Stream:— 
Cricket may be regarded from two points of view—that of the initiated 
and that of the uninitiated—and it will depend upon which status we see 
it from, whether the game will appear the very paragon of field sports 
or a comparatively dull pastime. A thorough cricketer will derive more 
veal enjoyment from a good match tlian he can get from any other 
recreation, and a brilliant leg hit, or the capture of a wicket, will excite 
a thrill which it would be difficult to describe. But with the uninitiated 
spectators it is very different. They find it difficult at first to understand 
in what the fascination of cricket consists.. It looks to them like an in¬ 
discriminate throwing and hitting of balls, which people standing about 
stop or catch by chance if they can, the performance being varied only 
by intervals of unmeaning quiescence and idleness. There is, to be 
sure, a display of violent exertion, and an occasional appearance of dan¬ 
ger, but the object to be attained is not apparent. When two men 
wrestle, or box,' or jump, or race, it is easy to see what they are about, 
and which is the victor. But when people see a stump knocked down or 
a ball caught, and a man with a bat walking away from the wicket, this 
conveys to them an idea of superiority or failure, and they hopelessly in¬ 
quire what it is that represents success. Then the complication of even 
the salient features of the game—to say nothing of its finer points—sub¬ 
tleties which none but a practical cricketer ever did or ever can understand! 
There is something ^indescribably odd in the “overs,” when a set of 
men gravely cross one another,without any apparent reason,only to cross 
back again and assume their former positions, repeating this perform¬ 
ance periodically every five minutes during the whole of a two day’s 
match. It appears like a solemn ceremonial, performed with the great¬ 
est decorum by enthusiasts in white apparel, who delude themselves into 
the idea that they are having fun. If a visitor did not know it was 
cricket he might imagine it was a traditional celebration of Druidical 
rites—mysteries which impress the uninitiated very much as the march¬ 
ings and postures of the acolytes in a great Roman Catholic ceremony 
affect the puzzled and contemptuous apprehension of the Protestant 
lookers-on, who, having no key to these elaborate motions, see nothing 
but unmeaning parade in what the ritualist could give him perfectly in¬ 
telligible reasons for. 
We can pardon the description of Q. K. Philander Doesticks of a 
cricket match at Hoboken, to which he was inveigled by a friend on the 
promiseJhat he w-ould'see sport: 
“Before the game began the players dressed up in baby’s flannels 
from head to foot, and two of them tied bed-quilts on their legs. Then 
they stood about the field promiscuous, and the umpire called out ‘play.’ 
Then a serious-looking man threw the ball, which was as hard as a 
brick, at a lugubrious individual, who stood with a two-handed pudding- 
stick in his grasp, in front of some sticks that were stuck in the ground. 
He made a poke at it, but didn’t hit it; then he sadly rested from his la¬ 
bors until they bad got the ball and were ready to try it over again. The 
next time he made a dash at the ball with his pudding-stick; this time 
he hit it; then everybody started to run at once like a pack of lunatic 
ants and when they stopped the umpire shouted out‘one run.’ Then 
everybody changed places with everybody else, and they all rested for 
five minutes, meantime keeping mournfully still. I expected to hear 
some one lead in prayer, or strike up a psalm, or do something inspiring 
of that sort, but no one volunteered any amusement. Pretty soon they 
resumed the mysteries of cricket, there was more bowling at the unfin¬ 
ished hen coop, and a little while afterwards one was knocked down; 
then the bed-quilted man retired discomfitted and the rest cheered. They 
persevered in this jocularity until sunset, when the funerial state of 
things came to an end. But not so the match, for nobody could tell me 
■which side had the best of it, and I heard they expected to spend all the 
next day at it, but I didn’t go, you bet.” 
Cricket is, nevertheless, a game worthy to be understood and appreci¬ 
ated by every one who acknowledges that a half holiday in the open is 
a good thing. But more especially is it a game to be learned and played 
by the rising generation. Apart from the good to be derived from all 
out-door exercise, it has advantages over all similar sports, and it is a di¬ 
version in which a man may be proud to excel, for there is absolutely 
nothing in it but what the man himself brings to it. It tests what he is 
worth and what he can do/ There is no adventitious interest to be de¬ 
rived from its implements. The simplicity of these—the bat, ball and 
stumps—give full scope to the subtile play of eyes and hand, of brain and 
muscle. A bport which involves hard bodily exertion and the chance of 
sharp knocks and bruises, and which depends for excellence simply on 
the qualities which make up manly address, activity and force, is, if for 
no other reason, an admirable one. But there is more than this in 
cricket. More than in any other game of strength and skill, it requires 
and develops a variety of powers. Muscular force, speed, quickness, 
flexibility, agility, are all indispensible, though it is impossible to pre¬ 
dict at what moment they may be called for. But the result depends on 
their being found available when the emergency arises. 
Nor is it only the bodily qualities which cricket calls into requisition. 
Where so many men have to work together and depend on one another, 
and where the chances of things going wrong are so various, every one 
requires a fair share of the moral virtues. When twenty-two eager and 
spirited men meet to try their force, a good deal of forbearance is often 
required to keep matters pleasant. And when eleven men on a side have 
to be made the best of in a close contest, it tests not only the general¬ 
ship of the captain, but the power of co-operation and discipline of the 
men. To be able to provide against or make the best of the vicissi¬ 
tudes which are often unexpected, but which are at all times possible; to 
have the self-reliance to act on one’s own responsibility, if it be only to 
decide on a change of bowlers at a critical moment: to have the fortitude 
to keep up one’s spirit and the spirits of the rest, and go on hopefully 
when things look most unfavorable—in other words, to fight an up-hill 
battle with judgment, confidence and pluck—these are qualities which 
cricket has tended to develop in every captain of a school eleven. What 
to the bystander may seem languid sport, means often that there is a 
mutual opposition of patience, vigilance, endurance, intellect, and a 
promptness of adaptation to circumstances slightly altering—but in their 
alteration most important—which tests the temper and judgment and 
mettle of a man. 
More, perhaps, than in any other game, the result is dependent on the 
concert of the eleven, while the play of the individual in its special char¬ 
acteristics is distinctively prominent. Each man in succession concen¬ 
trates on himself, for the time being, the attention and interest of all 
who are following the game—comrades, opponents and spectators. Each 
man has Iris own peculiar career; he makes his good or his bad score; 
he succeeds or he fails in his bowling or fielding; yet his performance is 
only one element of the result, and the game is won or lost by no single 
player, but by the combined total of what all respectively do or fail to 
do, each at his own post, and at the proper times. With ample opportu¬ 
nity for individual prowess, saccess can never be solitary or independ¬ 
ent. The best batsman is liable at any moment to be run out by his 
partner, and the best bowler, unless supported by good fielders, obtains 
but little credit on the score. A man may play with great credit to him¬ 
self, but he is only one of a side; his success is not merged or lost in 
theirs, but it is identified with and dependent upon them. No other 
game has been arranged with such a distribution of individual functions, 
working together and playing into one another, like the interdependent 
and correlated movements of an engine, whose distinct parts, endowed 
with life and volition, must each exert spontaneously his own aptitude, 
while all must be governed to work freely and sympathetically together. 
This combination of organization with individual action stimulates what 
may be called the companionship of discipline. It interests a set of men 
in themselves and in a common object, closely and generously, while 
soldiers do not obey their captain more implicitly. Nothing can be 
heartier than the good will with which an eleven work together who feel 
that they are getting on well, each man helping the rest to do justice to 
their side; and even bad fortune will not disturb good temper, where 
there is nothing to complain of but being fairly overmatched. Let each 
man do his part well and he will receive full credit for it, but the final 
result belongs to something beyond his individual honor; the fortunes 
of his side are of more consequence than anything that can happen to 
himself, and he plays, not that he may win, but that his side may. 
Then, too, there is a wholesome animosity towards the opponents—a 
contest of rivalry Which, while it recognizes the laws of warfare and the 
• decisions of umpires, remits no whit of hostility. Yet this does not pre¬ 
vent the exercise of courtesy and even, at times, of generosity. The 
practice of cricket depends quite as much on custom and honor as it 
does on written laws, and it is beneath the dignity ofj true cricketers to 
avail themselves of a laxity or ambiguity in the rules to overreach an 
adversary. The laws of cricket are construed by the vast majority of 
cricketers rather according to the spirit than the letter, a charity of which 
it must be admitted the said laws stand sadly in need. 
We have spoken rather of the qualifications for cricketers and the 
{esthetics of cricket than of thegame itself; a subject which has been 
exhaustively treated in the literature of cricket, but which can be best 
studied practically on the cricket field. We should rejoice to see so 
manly and attractive a field sport widely adopted at American colleges 
and schools, and out- advice to our youthful readers is—If you have here¬ 
tofore known cricket only by report, lose no time in enlisting in the 
ranks of the initiated and you will never regret it. And if any whose 
days for active sport have passed shall be in any degree influenced to 
encourage cricket among their successors, our object in calling attention 
to its merits will have been attained. A. A. O. 
—More than ordinary interest is being manifested in re¬ 
gard to the contests on the base ball field this season, espe¬ 
cially in reference to the movements of the clubs in the 
professional arena. Two causes operate in producing this 
result, the primary one being the, fact that owing to the 
stringent laws enacted by the Professional Association 
against betting by players, and the prohibition of pool sel¬ 
ling on ball fields, the patrons of the game have been led to 
expect a marked improvement in the integrity of the play 
during the season. Besides which there is the international 
series of games to be played in England by the two leading 
clubs of America, and the tour of these clubs named to 
take place in July and August next, has attracted more gen¬ 
eral public attention to the American game of ball than it 
lias ever before elicited. In fact, there is no doubt that 
this tour and its result of victory achieved on English 
ground will have the effect of widely extending the popu¬ 
larity of base ball, extended even as it now is. Of course, 
though the amateur class of ball players form the great 
majority throughout the country—nearly a hundred to one, 
in fact—the professionals necessarily attract more of public 
attention than the amatenrs, as by the facilities they have 
for training and practice they are enabled to display a far 
greater degree of skill than it is possible for amateurs to do. 
Hence the professionals rank highest as the most expert ex* 
emplars of the beauties of the game, the Collegians com 
ing next on the list. Last year one of the most excitin \ 
series of contests played during the season was that between 
the rival clubs of the City of Friends, viz, the Philadelphia 
and Athletic Clubs, the result at the close of the season be 
ing the signal success of the new; rival club, the Athletics 
winning but one game out of nine. This year the two 
clubs again entered the lists, the first game taking place on 
April 16th, on which occasion, despite cold and threatening- 
weather, fully 3,000 spectators were gathered on the Athletic 
grounds to witness the game, the result being a decided 
victory for the Athletics, who defeated the new nine of the 
Philadelphia Club by a score of 14 to 5. The contestants 
on both sides were too nervously anxious to win, to play 
well, and hence the fielding display was below the profes¬ 
sional standard. The score of runs, each innings, was as 
follows:— 
Philadelphia.1 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0—5 
Athletic...0 0 5 1 4 0 0 4 o_14 
Runs Earned—Philadelphia, 0; Athletic, 1. 
The new rules were not observed by the Umpire at the 
special request of the two Captains, and it is questionable 
whether this fact does not render the game “null and void’’ 
as far as its being recorded as a regular championship o-ame 
is concerned. 
—A very fine fielding game was played on the Capitoline 
grounds on April 16th between the professional Atlantics 
and the amateurs of the Nameless club of Brooklyn, as the 
appended score shows, the latter playing a beautiful game 
up to the close of the fifth innings, when the score stood at 
2 to 0 only. The runs obtained in each innings, were as 
follows:— 
Nameless. .0 0000100 0—1 
Atlantic...2 0 0 0 0 3 3 1 5-14 
Mr. Remsen umpired the game under the new rules. 
—On Saturday, April 18, there was quite a gathering of 
base ball players at Prospect Park, including [members of 
the Polytechnic Institute and the Nassau Club. The 
former played a strong field nine and won by 21 to 13 in a 
seven innings game. The latter defeated a field nine by 22 
to 2. 
—At the Capitoline grounds on April 18th the Atlantics 
played a practice game with the amateur Powhattans, and 
won by a score of 20 to 9. The game did not compare with 
that of Thursday, however 
— On April 14tli the veteran Knickerbockers opened play 
for the season on their enclosed grounds at Hoboken, and 
though the weather was windy and cloudy they mustered 
in a field game of ten men on a side, Davis’s side defeating 
Kissam’s by 14 to 7 in a six innings contest. It was their 
thirtieth season’s opening, and in all that time they have not 
missed a season’s play. 
—On April 18th the Yale College nine entered the field 
against the professionals of the Hartford Club at Hartford, 
and after a fine contest of two hours duration they were 
forced to succumb to the professionals by a score of. 12 to 
2. The rainy weather on Friday prevented the attendance 
of a large delegation from town, as the New Yorkers 
expected that the Hartford field w’ould not be in a condition 
for use. 
—The New Jersey Athletic Club, of Ridgewood, N. J. 
at a recent meeting elected the following officers:—George 
E. Moore, President; W. H. England, Yice President; 
Wheeler W. Phelps, Secretary and Treasurer; G. W. White, 
Captain. This club will hold their spring athletic meeting 
during the last week in May and the following programme 
has been decided upon: One hundred yard race for the 
championship of the club and a silver cup, 440 yard race 
and one mile walking match for silver cups. The one mile 
steeple chase is for a stand of colors presented by the ladies of 
Ridgewood, now held by A. J. Cameron, of this city, the 
latter also holds the 440 yard cup. The 100 yard cup is held 
by C. Harris, of this city, and Thomas C. White, of New 
Jersey, holds the walking cup. In addition to these events, 
there will be a 100 yard race between W. W. Phillips and 
J. Quackenbush, of New Jersey, and the association will 
offer a silver cup for a half-mile race to be thrown open to 
all amateur organizations. 
—The New York Athletic Club will hold a meeting on 
their grounds at Harlem on the 30th of May. It is expect¬ 
ed and hoped that delegates from Universities, Colleges 
and all athletic clubs in the United States and Dominion of 
Canada will be present at a convention to be held on that 
day to decide the much vexed question of the “Amateur.” 
We understand that the flourishing condition of the New 
York Athletic Club has enabled them to commence build¬ 
ing a new quarter of a mile track on the Westchester shore 
of the Harlem River. The programme for the proposed 
athletic meeting will consist of a three-mile walking match 
for the Amateur Championship of America; one mile run¬ 
ning race, 200, 440, and 800 yard running races, and several 
handicap races. 
—The Athletics on the 18tli inst., for the second time 
within one week, succeeded in “Chicagoing” a strong 
amateur nine, their opponents on the last mentioned occa¬ 
sion being the W. B. Collins Club, who ranked last season 
as the Amateur Champions of Philadelphia, the Athletics 
winning by 9 to 0. 
—The Athletic and Boston Clubs have signed contracts 
engaging passage to Europe and back by the American line 
of steamers. The fare for the excursion there and bact 
will be $100 in gold. None but members of the two clubs 
can obtain tickets at these rates or join in the excursion 
party, so those desirous of doing so will first have to be 
