AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
179 
called the Pound, rose, and made the remark that 
“although nobody doubted Seckle’s good quality, 
yet, if the truth must be told, he was also very 
little. As for himself, he was one of the giants 
of his race, hard as iron, and incorruptible as a 
patriot!” He observed that “as one lady had 
mentioned woman’s rights before this meeting, 
he thought that pears might also have their 
parties as well as politicians. He saw no reason 
why they also should not be divided into the 
hards and the softs like their rulers. The Pre¬ 
sident,Mr. A. Bergamot, he was sorry to say, 
had once been a hard, but was becoming softer 
every day; indeed he did not exactly know how 
to class him now, [shouts of order! order! turn 
him out, from all the Beurres, (softs,) ] he did 
not care one spadeful of manure, not he. He 
came to speak his mind, and let them say what 
they would, he should internally blush red, were 
he ever in such a stew as were many, both office¬ 
holders, and office-seekers at the present 
moment.” (He sat down, amidst groans and 
hisses from both hards and softs.) 
Soldat Laboreur now stood up, and with a 
martial demeanor, exclaimed in somewhat thea¬ 
trical style, that “ he disapproved of every thing 
excepting Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite, and Na¬ 
poleon,” and only deplored that there was no 
etc. to be added to the last word Napoleon, as 
then it would rhyme much better with the 
others. The Van Buren, an American seedling 
of rather obese shape, somewhat flattened near 
the calyx, of only second quality, and clad in a 
yellow overcoat, with a faint blush tinging his 
cheeks, now rose, and inquired “ if there was 
any Whig party among the pears present ? For 
his part, he thought, the Whig party was en¬ 
tirely defunct until a few days ago, he was both 
amazed and alarmed to observe some signs of 
returning animation amongst them.” Here Ma¬ 
dame Dix, a tall, large Boston pear of about 40 
years of age, (and of very good repute after 
reaching the age of 15 years,) dressed in a yel¬ 
low silk, distinctly spotted with russet, rose, and 
inquired “whether they had met to discuss 
politics or pears ? If politics were to be the 
order of the day, she for one should leave the 
room.” Whereupon Monsieur le Cure or the 
Vicar of Winkfleld — a long, yellow pear, of cle¬ 
rical appearance— holding one catholic living in 
France, and a vicarage in England, and, like 
many English clergymen, of a character similar 
to Jeremiah’s figs—“ when good, very good in¬ 
deed, when bad, too bad for pigs”—rose to 
pacify Madame Dix. After passing a few un¬ 
meaning compliments to the lady, he remarked 
that “ he entirely disapproved of such profane 
names as ‘ Ah mon Dieu!’ or, 0 my God ! ever 
being applied to any pear, even if it were French. 
And so of the name ‘ D’Amour,’ (love) ; so also 
‘Bon Chretien Fondante,’ (or good, juicy Christ¬ 
ian,) might, he added, be a very religious and 
good name for a pear, but he thought that any 
seriously inclined member of his church, would 
certainly object to eating any good, • melting 
Christian, for desert after a Sunday’s dinner; it 
would appear to him to be little better than cann¬ 
ibalism.” Bishop’s Thumb—along, odd-looking, 
green pear—“ entirely approved of what the rev¬ 
erend Vicar had said,” and observed, “ that it also 
appeared to him a species of falsehood to call 
a little, insignificant pear like his neighbor, ‘ the 
Great Citron of Bohemia,’ for in what his great¬ 
ness consisted, he could not see, excepting,” he 
satirically added, “ in the greatness of the false¬ 
hood, and as for his quality and character, why 
‘the less said, the better.’” Here Knight’s 
Monarch, a round, green pear, remai ked that, 
“perhaps the Great Citron had his name changed 
when on his passage to this counfry; such 
things,” he observed, “happened every day, 
and were very fashionable, and sometimes also 
very necessary to foreign emigrants; as for him¬ 
self, he scarcely knew whether he really was 
himself, or whether he had been changed at 
nurse.” He remarked that “ his portrait in the 
books bore no more resemblance to him than 
a Boston squash; but until both, he and others, 
were better acquainted with himself, he would 
retire into private life, and attend no more meet- 
tings.” The Black Worcester—a dark-com¬ 
plexioned, mulatto pear, and as hard as a brick¬ 
bat—now took the floor, and stated that “ as 
this was only a public meeting, and had nothing 
to do with abolition, excepting the abolition of 
worthless varieties, or with free soil, excepting 
such soils as were free for the growth of pears, 
he would now move that three out of their So¬ 
ciety should be chosen, to represent their race 
in every good garden in New-York.” After a 
few minutes, M. St. Michael, alias Virgalieu, a 
Frenchman, (although he was said to be rather 
liable to become cracked at times,) M. Bartlett, 
an Englishman, of plump and healthy appear¬ 
ance, and clad in the everlasting English yellow 
or buff vest, and M. Seckle, an American quaker, 
were unanimously chosen. Louise bonne de 
Jersey was also named as a very great favorite 
with some, but being only a lady, and uncom¬ 
monly modest and retiring for a female, she 
withdrew her chance for being chosen, although 
every pear present joined in praising her good 
qualities. Here the meeting was disturbed (as 
usually all public political meetings in the city 
are) by some slight symptoms of a row on the 
back seats. English Jargonelle, (a long, lank, 
green British subject,) had called French Jar¬ 
gonelle, (a rosy, round little Frenchman,) “ a rot¬ 
ten crapaud.” French retorting, English struck 
him a violent blow in the face which brought 
the crimson to his cheek. The worthy Vicar, 
supported by the Bishop’s Thumb, pitched into 
Pope’s Quaker, who retreated in dismay until 
Bloodgood came to his relief. D’Amour made 
noisy and violent protestations of love to 
Groom’s Princess Royal; the Duchess de Mars 
abused the Duchess d’Anjou in good French 
Billingsgate about the “ Enfant prodige,” which 
both parties claimed; St. Ghislain and Saint 
Germain behaved in a very rude manner to 
Maria Louise and Wilhelmine—first trying to 
kiss, and finally pelting them with potatoes un¬ 
til the tent resounded with their shrieks. In 
short the fun now “ grew so fast and furious,” 
that I could not suppress a hearty laugh; but 
alas! the misery this laugh caused me I shall 
never forget; for all the pears, (until then un¬ 
aware of my presence,) immediately left off 
fighting with each other, and rushed in a body 
at “poor me.” Ah mon Dieu! pinched my nose 
and ears ; Episcopal and the virtuous Vicar buf¬ 
feted my organs of veneration most mercilessly, 
the Bishop’s Thumb was busily engaged in the 
pleasant pastime of gouging out both my eyes; 
the Beurres by dozens mounted on my stomach 
and commenced industriously beating the 
“devil’s tattoo” on my “gastric regions,” and 
to complete my misery, the “ Glout Morceau” 
got half way down my throat, and endeavored 
to strangle me. Overcome with pain, agony, and 
terror, I awoke with one tremendous convul¬ 
sive bound, and found myself gradually coming 
to a “ proper sense of my situation,” which was 
not in my solitary bed where I ought to have 
been, but upon the hard deal floor of No.-’s 
hotel, where I certainly ought not to have been, 
at least at that time of night, but where I had 
fallen during the last paroxysm of my pomolo- 
gical nightmare. Finding myself really suffer¬ 
ing all “ the pains and penalties” attached to 
the act of tasting about 150 pears, and not being 
able to compose myself to sleep, I took a very 
allopathic dose of essence of peppermint, lighted 
another lamp, and penned this, my dream, as a 
warning to all those, whose destiny ever leads 
them to become “ an associate judge of fruit,” 
at any pomological meeting. G. 
Byrnesville. 
AGRICULTURAL TOUR IN' GERMANY.—NO. 12. 
BY COUNT DE GOURCY. 
Translated for the American Agriculturist from the Journal 
d’Agriculture Pratique. 
Early on the fourth of September, I started 
in company with M. Veszely, Overseer of the 
Archduke’s property, in an open carriage drawn 
by two fine horses. We devoted this journey 
to the inspection of several farms on this estate. 
I by no means regret the time spent in this trip, 
as an opportunity is. seldom offered of visiting 
a property so extensive, so fertile, and at the 
same time so well cultivated. We saw in the 
first place a farm yard where a hundred oxen 
of the Berne breed were kept. The epizootic 
disease, known here as the “ horned cattle pest,” 
having made its appearance near this place, in 
the small town of Wieselburg; all the people 
employed to take care of these animals have 
been confined to the establishment, and so much 
is the circulation of unwholesome air dreaded, 
that the gates of the farm yard are closed to all 
besides these persons, not even excepting the 
superior managers of the estate. The attend¬ 
ants are furnished with every thing they require, 
but are forbidden to set a foot outside the yard. 
I admired here several splendid fields of 
maize, the stalks of which were eight feet high. 
I was shown a very productive variety, which 
exceeded nine feet in height. The long spike 
is entirely covered with a small, rough grain. 
This maize is peculiarly adapted for fodder, as 
the plant grows very tall, and the small size of 
the grain allows of a saving in the quantity of 
seed necessary to be sown. It has been cul¬ 
tivated for two years, but they could not tell me 
where it originated. 
The maize cultivated for the grain is here 
sown by hand, in rows, marked out with a line 
two feet apart. The grains are planted at about 
eighteen inches from each other in the row. 
That for fodder is sown like the smaller grains, 
but is allowed a little more space between the 
rows than wheat or rye, which are generally 
sown 9 inches apart. They continue to sow it 
for fodder until the beginning of August. 
Beets are cultivated here for supplying a 
sugar factory situated about six miles distant. 
The refuse is not preserved for cattle. This 
system of cultivation when the refuse is not so 
employed, exhausts the soil very much. I may 
make the same remark of rape, as it is grown 
here ; they never purchase oil-cake for feeding 
cattle. Several new farms are being formed out 
of pasture grounds recently broken up. The 
twenty-two communes which constitute a part 
of the manor, have a right to pasture on these 
lands. Arrangements have been made with 
eight of these communes, and a portion of the 
