7 42 

 I — 



shoe to his foot : so also, to me and my vine, — ere 

 his head yet gets hoary, — may he still more be in- 

 debted for the clusters and the wine to gladden his 

 heart ! 



If I have not canonized "Peter" the gardener, — 

 who, " for the honor of trade," not the good of his 

 country, would have me turn cobbler, — he should 

 bear in mind that, unlike St. Peter of old, he is not 

 I yet a martyr! My wood-" cut" may cut him, but 

 I he is still a survivor ; and, though his name be not 

 I clustered with " Liebig and Lindley, Loudon, and 

 j DeBreuil, Mead, Meehan and Ellis," he may still 

 j find a niche in the temple of Fame Cas famous for 

 i ; error, for " ignorance " and blunder) that may hold 

 i \ on the record long after his "glass pens" have 

 j passed into oblivion. 



' A stranger on visting the Capitol, once thought 

 • « that the members the most noisy were certainly 

 ; ; drafted ; — so in viti-culture too ; the member that 

 ! \ cries so loud " for the honor of trade " may not be 

 I i unlike those brothers in Congress. The retired and 

 \ , the silent will sometimes say something, and the 

 I something they say is often hard to forget. My 

 j Circular, — an "interesting document," (says the 

 j Editor,^ of "nonsense," (says H.) — the reader to 

 j be his own judge, should have one. This it is that 

 i j has told a "wonderful" tale, all its own; and, if 

 j j with it, at the firnt dawn of Spring, I scatter broad- 

 , I cast, from ocean to ocean, a fine, hardy vine, at the 

 \ j cost of a penny, — " To the Public " I speak, am 

 I \ I what my traducer would have his readers believe ? 

 I ■ The unscrupulous perso?iaZ attack of Mr. H. forms 

 I ; my apology to the reader. 



I [It is our rule to admit nothing into our columns 

 that will not, in some way, instruct or interest the 

 j reader. We do not see that this paper can do either 

 i one or the other. Mr. B. says when his secret is 

 known, vines may be raised as easily as Strawberry 

 plants, but as he gives no information as to what 

 that "secret" is, we do not see of what benefit the 

 assertion is to our readers. 



We decide to publish the paper only that we now 

 j see we erred in passing over a few expressions in 

 Mr. Henderson's paper, which turn out to be not 

 strictly correct, and, not being so, may be consid- 

 ered not strictly courteous. The reference to the 

 "lap-board or the lap-stone" we should have struck 

 out had we given it more serious thought. We are 

 always willing to pay the penalty of error, — we sup- 

 pose Mr. Henderson is, — therefore, we permit our- 

 selves to be punished by publishing an article which, 

 r if Mr. H.'swas "scurrilous," imitates it far too 

 ^ ^ 'well for our taste. 



^ So much for strict justice, — now for the facts. — 



The idea, that Mr. Barnett has discovered any new 

 principle in the circumstance of getting roots out 

 while the buds are still dormant, is ridiculous and 

 absurd. It is the aim and object, and the success- 

 ful result of all propagators from ripe wood, every 

 one of whom knows well that his success in striking 

 is just in proportion to his success in getting roots 

 before the eyes start. Every thing struck from cut- 

 tings in the open air, which grows best, roots before its 

 buds burst. It is this which makes it possible to root 

 some things, by planting in Fall, which will not root 

 well in Spring. If, for instance, a Quince cutting 

 be put in in October, by the end of March it will be 

 found with roots a quarter of an inch long, and the 

 buds quite dormant, — not, in fact, sprouting before 

 April. But in the case of a Quince cutting put in 

 in March, there is not time to push out roots before 

 the buds burst, and exhaustion and death ensues. 

 This is, in fact, the whole secret of bottom-heat in 

 propagating, — to keep the bed several degrees 

 warm^er than the air, that roots may push before 

 the buds burst, so as to be ready to supply the evap- 

 oration the young leaves facilitate. 



Many persons claim the right to patent things which 

 everybody knows, simply because a description has 

 not been published before ; but even on this point 

 Mr. Barnett is at fault ; for if he will turn to our 2d 

 volume, page 206-242, and all through that volume 

 he will find that Mr. John Watson and others are 

 several years ahead of him in knowing how to get | 

 roots from cuttings with dormant eyes. There are 

 improvements which could less ridiculously be pat- 

 ented than this. We do not remember any one 

 having patented or even described a three-tined fork, 

 which is certainly an improvement on the old double- 

 toothed one. If our discoverers wish to operate in 

 patents, let them try their skill in such things, and 

 we will have nothing to say ; but we heartily unite 

 with Mr. Henderson in having no patience with this 

 course in Horticulture. 



Yet we differ with Mr. Henderson on one or two 

 points. Mr. Barnett can produce good vines by this 

 process — of course he can. The specimens he sends, 

 of Concord, cannot be excelled. They do credit to his 

 skill as a grower if not to his merit as a discoverer. 



Neither do we agree that horticulturists should 

 have no secrets, nor feel it unprofessional to patent 

 any really new discovery from which they may de- 

 rive profit. We honor that free and liberal horti- 

 culturist who gives to our readers generously of what 

 he knows, and think he benefits himself, in most 

 cases, much more by this free diffusion of thought 

 than withdrawing into his own shell ; — but yet it is 

 his right to decide for himself,— to keep his dis- 



