106 



§mt\mtx's JHontljlg. 



REPLY TO THE DISCOVERER OP THE 

 "ROOTLING VINE." 



BY PETER HENDERSON. 



1 am well aware, Mr. Editor, that no benefit is 

 conferred upon j^our readers by a personal contro- 

 versy, nor would I ask you to give space to my re- 

 ply to Mr. Barnett now, but for the reason that 

 when I endeavored to give my opinion about his 

 modest circular, I did not use his name, nor did I 

 even state that the city of West Haven, Conn., had 

 been honored by his illustrious presence. This doc- 

 ument was thrusc into my hands by the Postman, 

 vnasked. It contained a special request to he posted 

 lip, — inviting criticism. I posted it up as I thought 

 it deserved to be ; and, in doing so, have brought 

 the wrath of its distinguished author about my ears. 

 Now, inasmuch as you allow him to attack me per- 

 sonally, by name, I think, in common fairness, I am 

 entitled to a reply. 



Whether I untruly quoted from his "Rootling" 

 Circular, any body can decide who has interest 

 enough in the matter to send to him for one of these 

 "interesting documents." I possibly may have 

 slightly changed the wording, but emphatically deny 

 that I changed the sense of any one of these quota- 

 tions in the slightest particular. 



Mr. Barnett makes allusion to having met me at 

 the Flushing Grape Sale, and having there offered 

 me $1000 to produce a fac-simile of his "rootling 

 vine." This is perfectly true : but all understood 

 this unbounded liberality to be only a miserable at- 

 tempt at bluff, which the gentleman was forced to 

 try, when he, with his circulars and "rootlings," 

 had become hard pressed by some wags of the craft 

 to whom he was figuring as a most ridiculous cen- 

 tre piece. I did not choose to make myself equally 

 ridiculous by even a semblance of accepting his offer, 

 which would have been no more preposterous, in 

 my opinion, had it been offered me to produce 100 

 cabbage or Tomato plants. 



The gentleman's experience at the Flushing Grape 

 Sale was that of thousands of great discoverers who 

 had gone before, — he was everywhere met with un- 

 belief: his "Gift of God to man," — to the man 

 Barnett, — was sneered at by the vulgar crowd. 

 Even that bright scintillation of intellect, — thedevel- 

 opment only of a learned mind, — the original, — the 

 unknown, — the unheard of term "rootling" was ut- 

 tered with mocking lips ; and one ungracious rascal 

 had the audacity to say, that a certain Dr. Royce, of 

 Newburg, had, years before, used the terms "Bud- 

 lings," "Cutlings" and " Shootlings," in vending 

 his vines, and had only stopped short at "Root- 

 ling," being afraid of using up all the '"'lings.'" 



It seems that I touched Mr. Barnett on a very 

 te; der spot in alluding to him as an old gentleman. 

 This, I confess, was entirely a random shot ; for, 

 when I wrote that article, which appeared in the 

 December No., I had never seen hin»; and, what he 

 no doubt thinks even more wonderful, had nc-ver 

 heard of him; and only judged that he was an "old 

 gentleman" by the antiquated and pedantic style of 

 his 'Notice to the Public;' and 1 was a little surprised 

 when, instead of an octogenarian, as I had pictured 

 him, a hale and hearty gentleman of something less 

 than three score summers stood before me, and an- 

 nounced himself as the veritable Barnett. So if I 

 did wrong him by thinking hinj an aged man in his 

 dotage, I blame it all to my inability to understand 

 the fossil beauties of his style. 



Mr. Barnett queries whether, when I first saw his 

 print, it did not bewilder my brain? It certainly 

 did ; for I had never before seen such a tissue of 

 egotistical assumption embodied in one small Iwlf 

 sheet, (the gentleman is evidently of an economical 

 turn) ; and I was astounded to think that any sane 

 man could have put such a print before the public, 

 without expecting to be outrageously laughed at. 



As a proof of this egotistical assumption peculiar 

 to the gentleman, I quote from his reply to me, in 

 the February No.; he says, "Study, books and hor- 

 ticulture, thus far, comprise all the occupation of 

 my life, though the business community have long 

 known me as a landlord." 



Thus he refutes my presumptuous insinuation of 

 his early avocations being probably confined to the 

 lap-board or lap-stone, which I had ventured to sup- 

 pose might have been the case when he showed, as 

 I thought, such an utter want of the simplest horti- 

 cultural knowledge. But what he means by telling 

 us also that he is "a landlord," I am at a loss to 

 conceive, unless he wishes it to be known that he is 

 rich ; but what that has to do in helping his denial 

 I cannot understand : for have we not both rich and 

 distinguished tailors? 



Further he says that "Greek, Latin, French, Ger- 

 man and Spanish are the familiar literature of my 

 library." No wonder that I could not appreciate 

 the peculiar style of his " Notice to the Public," 

 when it emanated from such a fount of learning. 

 No wonder that anything a "common gardener," 

 like me, could write, would be counted as "Billings- 

 gate" by this profound pedagogue ! 



Again, he tells us that " strangers" have wended 

 their way from all sections, not to see a suburban 

 village, but the vines that grow in it, tlie one that 

 grows them, and that knows how to fruit them." 

 If ever before such puerile twaddle has disgraced 



