298 
POPULAR ERRORS.-NO. 1. 
hibition. Anniversary Address in the Taber¬ 
nacle, at 7 k o’clock, P. M. The New York Sacred 
Music Society have, as usual, kindly volunteered 
their services. Visitors may obtain tickets free of 
charge, at the Clerk’s desk. 
The Managers desire strongly to impress ex¬ 
hibitors with the necessity of bringing their contri¬ 
butions early, to avoid the crowd and confusion 
usual on Saturday afternoon and evening, and the 
delay caused thereby, in well arranging, in season, 
the articles for opening the Exhibition, which will 
not be delayed beyond 12 o’clock on Monday, the 
5th of October. Again, the Judges meet early the 
first week, when the examination takes place of 
articles for competition, after which a re-examina- 
tion will not be admissible. Further conditions 
and regulations of the Fair will be posted on the 
desk and in other parts of the Garden. A label ac¬ 
companying the articles, with the price and place 
where sold, would be a convenience to purchasers, 
and for the interest of the exhibitor. 
In no case, whether there are competitors or not, 
will any article be entitled to a premium, if unde¬ 
serving of particular commendation. 
At the last Fair, 34 gold medals, 35 silver cups, 
181 silver medals, 255 diplomas, 170 dollars in 
cash, and 128 volumes of books, were awarded as 
premiums. They will be increased at the coming 
Fair. 
The importance of an Annual National Exhibi¬ 
tion in so central a situation as New York, the 
great mart of trade, where producers of all occupa¬ 
tions resort in such multitudes, is obvious. It en¬ 
sures a full display of the most perfect specimens 
from the fields, the gardens, the factories and work¬ 
shops of our country; and enables the accurate ob¬ 
server to compare improvements from year to year, 
and note the progress of our growing republic, in 
producing and multiplying the enjoyments of life. 
The visitors, at a single Anniversary, have exceed¬ 
ed two hundred thousand, representing most of the 
States in the Union—an assemblage that has no 
parallel in this country. T. B. Wakeman, Sec’y. 
New York, October, 1846. 
POPULAR ERRORS—No. 1. 
Under this head we intend to write a series of 
articles showing up various fallacies in practice 
among the good people of our country. They will 
be theoretical or practical according to the subjects 
treated, and as we happen to be in the mood. For 
any hints from our friends by way of assisting to 
carry out our scheme, we shall be much obliged. 
We shall aim to make the articles entertaining as 
well as instructive. 
Changing Seed. —There is no greater popular 
error than this, namely, that it is beneficial to bring 
seed from a distant field or farm, or different section 
of the country, or even a foreign land, for the pur¬ 
pose of change, in supposing that this change alone 
will obtain a superior crop, except occasionally 
;from a high latitude to a low one, and sometimes 
iioice versa. Ask the reason for this opinion, 
and the ordinary answer is, “ Well, I don’t know, 
but I reckon or guess,” as the case may be, 
“ it is a good thing to change. After a while, 
things in our country run out, and come to nothing, 
and to keep ’em up we must make a change.” Ask 
the man of science the same question, and he will 
answer, “ that after growing a certain kind of 
grain, vegetable, or plant, in the same soil for a 
series of years, the said soil will become exhaust¬ 
ed of the necessary elements to perfect the said 
grain, &c.; that it then inevitably deteriorates, and 
must be renovated by bringing similar grain from 
a distant locality, grown in a soil with somewhat 
different elements, and that such seed will be sure 
to produce with pristine vigor.” And forthwith he 
adopts the change, without inquiring whether the 
seed actually has the exhausted elements required 
in it, or reflecting whether an article so small as 
many seeds are—wheat for example—can possibly 
hold a sufficiency of said elements to increase its 
growth of straw and grain in said exhausted soil, 
sufficiently to make it a good crop. 
We hold it utterly impossible in this instance, 
and most others; for what is now wanted is as 
plain as the nose on a man’s face. It is this : not a 
change of seed, but a restoration o.f those elements 
to the soil of which it has been exhausted by the 
crops carried off. For example, in wheat. Potash 
is the principal matter which has been carried off 
in the straw; gluten and starch in the grain; so 
that to grow good wheat again on the exhausted 
soil, it must be dosed with barn-yard manure, or 
muck, or vegetable mould, or with ashes, charcoal 
dust, lime, and bones. Then we may have good 
wheat again without the necessity of change of 
seed. Indeed, the seed may be improved rather than 
deteriorated by constantly growing it on the same 
soil, as has been repeatedly proved in this country. 
Trees and Shrubbery Around the House. —A great 
error in disposing of these, lies, in planting them 
too near buildings—the house especially. No 
large growing tree should be nearer to the house 
than 100 feet, and if several acres of lawn are 
around, a distance of 200 or 300 feet would be still 
better. The smaller growing trees and shrubbery 
should be proportionally near. 
The objections to trees being placed near to 
buildings are, first, if ever blown over they endan¬ 
ger the house; second, they keep the sides and 
roof so constantly damp, that if of wood, it decays 
much faster than it otherwise would; third, they 
harbor flies and mosquitoes ; fourth, they hide the 
view of the surrounding country, and make the 
house dark and gloomy. 
There is nothing so beautiful immediately around 
the house as a well-kept lawn, interspersed with 
little mounds of flowers, and an occasional flower¬ 
ing shrub. English grounds are thus arranged, 
and they are usually in much better taste than in 
America. If shade be wanted, it is much better to 
have a verandah running all round the house, with 
Venetian blinds or a movable canvass curtain at¬ 
tached to it in front. This is the plan adopted at 
the South, where their houses are kept as cool in 
the summer as ours are at the North, and without 
the danger, annoyance, and gloom, of trees planted 
too near. 
Cydonia Japonica. —The fruit of this handsome 
flowering shrub, which is abundantly produced, is 
a great improvement to an apple tart, if cut into 
thin slices or finely minced. One fruit is sufficient 
for a small tart, and two for a large one. 
