AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Downing’s New Seedling Gooseberry. 
Owing to the fact that the superior English va¬ 
rieties of the gooseberry are so liable to mildew 
in this country, much attention is being given to 
the improvement of native sorts. Hitherto, 
Houghton’s Seedling has been the principal im¬ 
proved native variety which has been in demand, 
on account of its quality and freedom from mil¬ 
dew. The main objection to it is its small size, 
as compared with the foreign sorts. We are 
glad to learn that Charles Downing has produced 
a Seedling from the Houghton of about double its 
size, of light green color, thin skin, and a delicate 
sweet vinous flavor, like the finest foreign varie¬ 
ties. This has been proved by a trial of three years, 
and, though Mr. Downing, with his usual modes¬ 
ty, forbears pushing it into notice, we hope some 
of our enterprising cultivators will look after it, 
and see that a supply of plants be speedily propa¬ 
gated, to meet the large demand for a variety of 
this fruit, which shall be unexceptionable as to 
Ize, flavor, and freedom from mildew. 
Native and Foreign Trees. 
We are not insensible to the superior beauty 
and value of some foreign ornamental trees. Our 
pleasure grounds could ill spare the Norway 
Spruce, Siberian Arbor Vitae, Swedish Juniper, 
Scotch Larch, English Linden, Mountain Ash, 
&c., &c. But we fear that the richness of our 
own forests is unappreciated by many planters ; 
to some, perhaps, it is unknown. Let it not be 
forgotten that we have fifty species of oaks in 
North America, while all Europe has only thirty. 
North America has forty species of pines and 
firs—the United States over twenty-while Europe 
has only fourteen species. Who, among our 
readers, has pride of country enough to collect 
all the native trees which will grow in his lati¬ 
tude 1 We would travel many miles to inspect 
such a collection. 
--«•«.-- 
Shade Trees in Pastures. 
In an Address before the late annual Fair of 
the Oneida County Agricultural Society, Hon. A. 
B. Dickinson inveighed severely against the pres¬ 
ervation of shade trees in pasture lands. Such 
trees, he contended, are a great injury to the soil, 
exhausting it for a large area, of its fertility and 
moisture. For this reason, if for no other, they 
should be extirpated. But, furthermore, they 
hinder the fattening of animals grazing in such 
fields. In lots fully exposed to the sun’s rays, the 
grass is of a better quality ; and then, the cattle 
having no shady resorts, stand up and eat all the 
time; whereas, if there were trees here and there, 
they would lie down under them in the heat of 
the day, and so eat less, and consequently fatten 
less. 
Mr. D. says he has tried the experiment to his 
entire satisfaction. Every Spring he buys a thou¬ 
sand head of steers, assigns to each field as many 
as it ought to sustain well, and never changes 
their quarters. He has, in particular, two fields 
of thirty acres each, as near alike in quality of 
grass, and in all other respects, as possible, with 
the exception that one has several shade trees in 
it, and the other has none. These fields he has 
used to test his theory, and he finds that his cattle 
fatten sooner in the open field than in the shaded. 
He has found by actual experiment that the cat¬ 
tle in the open field increase in weight fifteen 
pounds per head a month over those in the other 
pasture. He has arrived at the definite conclu- 
eion, in his own mind, that other things remaining 
the same, “ a lot of steers will gain as much in 
an open field in four months as they will in five 
months in a field where they have access to 
shade.” 
Mr. D. is a large and thorough-going farmer, 
and deserves credit for his energy, and for the 
zeal with which he prosecutes experiments. But 
we cannot fully adopt his opinion in the present 
case; at least we must be allowed to express 
some objections. Shade trees, he says, exhaust 
pastures of their fertility. Well, but do they not 
pay back large installments in their annual depos¬ 
it of leaves'! The grass is of poorer quality 
around such trees. Granted, but not so poor that 
cattle do not eat it. And besides, the soil and 
the quality of the grass beneath such trees, are 
benefitted by the droppings of the cattle while 
resting in the shade. But then, in fields with oc¬ 
casional trees cattle will lie down in the middle 
of Summer days, when they ought to be out in 
the sun industriously filling themselves with 
grass, and so taking on fat! We are not over¬ 
whelmed with the force of this last consideration. 
To corn-pel a steer to stand up in dog-days, at 
noon, and eat grass so as to hasten his fattening, 
when he is already full and wants to rest, is ludi¬ 
crous, if it be not a barbarous and short-sighted 
philosophy. But whether this theory be true or 
not, many of us still advocate the preservation 
of a few shade trees in pastures. Do rational men 
live for nothing but to fatten cattle in short me¬ 
tre! Have considerations of beauty no weight in 
their minds ! Have they no regard for the comfort 
of their domestic animals! A merciful man is 
merciful to his beasts. There is, perhaps, no rural 
scene more pleasing than that of flocks and herds 
resting at Summer noon under the shade of trees, 
or cooling their hot limbs in some running stream. 
We take off our hat and grasp the hand of Mr. 
D.’s foreman, who, on being ordered by the pro¬ 
prietor to demolish every tree in a certain pas¬ 
ture, came back at night, saying : “ I cut down 
all but two; they were so handsome I could’nt do 
it; I couldn’t touch ’em. If you want them 
felled, you must do it yourself, for I won't." 
Good, Sir! The panting steers will thank you, 
and so will we. 
Fruit Stealing. 
We are not disposed to speak in measured 
terms on this subject. There is a laxness of 
public morals in regard to stealing fruit, which de¬ 
mands earnest efforts at correction. Many per¬ 
sons seem to think that the law of the land against 
thieving, and the higher law, “ Thou shalt not 
steal,” do not cover acts of this sort. Men who 
would shrink from purloining a shilling’s worth of 
goods from a merchant’s store, as a wicked and 
disgraceful act, will yet steal, and allow their sons 
to steal dollar’s worth of fruit from a neighbor’s 
orchard or garden without compunction ; nay, will 
even think their success in thieving quite a good 
joke. Young America is free and independent, 
a lover of the largest liberty, rebellious at all re¬ 
straint. But might he not be improved, in some 
respects! Verily, we think he might. In England 
and on the Continent, fine statuary, choice fruit 
and ornamental trees are exposed to public in¬ 
spection in parks and gardens, yet seldom does a 
wanton hand deface the one, or despoil and pilfer 
the other. Whether this comes from fear of the 
law, or a high sense of propriety, we care not now 
to consider. We who profess to be the grandest 
nation on the globe, should do right, from some 
reason or other. Public and private property 
should be held sacred. No man should maltreat 
a church building, or a town-hall, or the trees and 
Q3 
fences of a public park. No man, or man’s son, 
should pilfer his neighbor’s fruit, or make too free 
with his neighbor’s shrubs and flowers. 
In correcting the evil here spoken of, parents 
and teachers have much to do. They should 
teach the children under their care that, to tress¬ 
pass on a neighbor’s property, is both disgraceful 
and wrong. They should inculcate continually a 
high sense of honor, a pride of character, that will 
not stoop to do a mean thing, even though it may 
not be detected, or though public sentiment may 
wink at its commission. “ John, let’s go and rob 
Mr. Smith’s young pear orchard, to-night,” said a 
lad to one of his companions, “no one will see 
us.” “ No one see us!” replied the comrade, “ yes, 
God would see us, and I should see myself; and 
that would be two too many.” Nobly spoken! 
A man should feel that in doing such acts, he is 
degrading himself, making himself unworthy of 
his own respect or that of his fellow men. 
We are far from holding that a man may in no 
case take of his neighbor’s fruit without permis¬ 
sion. A traveler may refresh himself in welcome 
with an apple from a tree by the road side ; or, 
in passing across a neighbor’s fields, one may eat 
occasional fruits which seem to be abundant: no 
one wjll object to this. But to enter gardens and 
orchards secretly, by night or by day, for the ex¬ 
press purpose of stealing, and to carry away fruit, 
more or less, that we stigmatize as cowardly and 
wicked. The case is worse, where the fruit 
stolen is rare and costly. Instances occur fre¬ 
quently, like the following : A man, fond of hor¬ 
ticultural pursuits, hearing of some superior fruit 
just introduced, in a distant part of the country, 
obtains it at considerable expense and trouble, and 
plants it in his garden with the greatest care. He 
digs and manures, he waters and preserves and 
nurses it from year to year, watching its growth 
and longing to see and taste its fruit. At length, 
on some fine Spring morning, a few blossoms 
appear; as Summer passes awav, the fruit de¬ 
velops, matures and takes on the beautiful tints 
of full ripeness. The happy owner now fixes on 
some day when he will gather the long expected 
fruit, and share it with his family and friends. On 
the morning of that day, as he walks through his 
garden, his heart fails him to see his favorite tree 
battered, and its fruit missing ! The thief has got 
the start of him. Now, is this a thing to be winked 
at, as a very small affair ! The injury sustained 
in this case is something more than the loss of 
mere money. What satisfaction can one take in 
rearing choice fruit, when he knows that some 
vile thief may rob him in a single night, of the re¬ 
sults of years of care and labor. Indeed, we all 
know that many zealous horticulturists have aban¬ 
doned efforts of this kind for the simple reason 
above alluded to. They can not put padlocks on 
their gardens and orchards, and public sentiment 
does not frown severely on fruit thieving, nor en¬ 
courage prosecution for such offenses. 
We have no more to say at present, except to 
raise our remonstrance against these things. We 
beg parents, school teachers and all good citizens 
to use their best endeavors to rectify this evil. 
Cultivate in the young a right conscience on this 
subject; hold up to scorn the fruit-stealer prowl¬ 
ing about at night, when honest people are asleep. 
Were the public sentiment thoroughly purged, 
this evil would soon be abated. Is there not a 
good time coming when we Americans shall he as 
honorable and virtuous, as we are liberty loving 
and progressive! 
“My dear Tom,”said old Sberidan, one day, to 
his son, “I wish you would take a wife.” “ I 
have no objection, sir,” said Tom, 11 whose wife 
shall I take 1" 
