382 
MOOBE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
BEG, 43 
$mnr of n pluralist. 
DAILY DURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of a Gentleman near Mew 
iYork City. 
RETIRING FROM BUSINESS. 
Nov. 38.—It speaks well for a man's indus¬ 
try to hear it said of him that he lias retired 
from business. Those who have worked 
hard for many years, either physically or 
mentally, arc entitled to rest in old age, and 
it is no more than right that they should step 
aside and let the younger members come 
forward and take their turn at the wheel ol 
fortune. Merchants and tradesmen gerieni- 
ly are more likely to reach a point when; a 
retirement from an active business life, is 
possible than mechanics and farmers, al¬ 
though those whose aspirat ions ha ve never 
reached above the actual necessaries and 
comforts oi life can usually retire at an earlier 
period than the more extravagant. For my 
part J am always pleased to hear that Farm¬ 
er So-ailcl^so has sold out or divided the 
farm among the boys and moved into the 
nearest village, where he proposes to take a 
litllo pleasure in the way of rest during the 
remainder of his days. There are my dear 
old uncles, L and C., who ret ired many years 
ago, one moving into the village because he 
wanted to be near the church, and the other 
because lie liked to tic whore there was some¬ 
thing going on, to keep him from becoming 
gloomy. Ho could walk about town, whistle, 
tell stones, hear the news, and enjoy himsell 
generally. The children in both eases were 
well provided for, but (yes, it comes right in 
here,) J never have heard a word abort those 
good old ladies (my aunts) retiring or taking 
a rest while gliding down the. hill of life. It 
I ride Into town and spend the day at either 
house, uncle and I, like two good old cronies, 
smoke our pipes, t ake a stroll through the 
villages, call on old acquaintances, and have 
a good time generally ; but we never forget 
to keep up our country habit of being on 
hand lor dinner at exactly twelve o'clock ; 
and it is always ready, although aunt has 
been almost cooked herself in cooking it. 
Now, my uncles are probably not much 
worse than a great many other uncles who 
have retired from hard work or business ; 
but 1 am not going to bottle up my indigna¬ 
tion in regard to the treatment of the women 
folk any longer, even If it does cost mo many 
a prospective Thanksgiving and Christmas 
dinner. I don’t care how hard a man has 
worked on his farm, his wife generally docs 
not full one whit behind in this, and it is an 
outrageous shame that she cannot share the 
leisure and rest with her husband. But 
whoever heard of a man and his irifc retiring 
from business ? It is usually the ease if the 
farmer moves to town for the sake of getting 
near the church that all his old neighbors 
call on him when they come that way, and 
especially on Sunday; for it is so nice, to get 
a warm c inner at Brother Svtrrr.ncs The 
wife has all the more to do; for it. will not 
answer to hu.ve it. said she is not a good cook 
and knows just how to provide for her—no ! 
/it’s guests. Our country tillages have many 
a retired farmer among their citizens who 
has never as yet thought it worth while to 
provide one servant to aid the good wife in 
hor numerous household duties. My neigh¬ 
bor, Doi.nv, who, by-the-way, is far from be¬ 
ing an old man, sold his farm a few days 
since, invested the money iu Government 
soeuritea, except enough to purchase a lot in 
in the village. I see him almost every day, 
riding about in his buggy and taking his 
ease. Ho has a large family of children, 
ranging from the baby upward, with all the 
regularity of a flight, of stairs ; and I doubt 
if there is more, than two years difference in 
the ages of any two. Now, Mrs. Dolby sel¬ 
dom rides out wivh her husband, and when 
she does there is the never-wanting baby In 
her arms. That, is not, however, what I 
complain of; but it is that she takes care of 
all the children herself rnd has no servants 
to assist her in the household duties, except 
occasionally a washerwoman. Now, Do un¬ 
is abundantly able to keep a nurse to care 
for the children as well as a cook; but 
neither is employed, and Mrs. Dolby has to 
do the work of both, while her husband rides 
about taking bis ease, having relived from 
hard work. 1 might name scores of just 
such instances, but it is unnecessary, for 1 
presume every reader of the Aural New- 
Yorker can call them to mind. When I 
take a summer vacation and go to the Rocky 
Mountains or elsewhere. Mrs, “ iluralist ’’ 
has her vacation at the time time; and when 
I retire from business she shall also: for tliis 
is the kind of of “woman’s rights” that 1 
fully believe in. 
HANDSOME ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS. 
Nov, 39.—The almost endless variety of 
ornamental shrubs named in our nursery¬ 
men’s catalogues frequently puzzles the 
amateur a hen he desires to make selection 
of only a few. That the greater part of the 
entire lists are really worth cultivating is 
true; but then it is hot. every one who has 
the room to spare that is required foi their 
cultivation, even when t he cost is not. an oh 
jection. The list of twelve best roses made 
up a year or two since bv the Rochester 
nurserymen and published in the Ri rai. 
N'kiv-Vorker was a move in the right direc¬ 
tion for aiding those who cannot have but a 
few roses and want, them of the very best 
sorts. Of course, sending out such list 1 will 
not, deter those who want a greater number 
from having them, while it does help those 
vi ho can have but a few. I have been hoping 
that some of our authorities on the subject 
would gfve us a list of the very best orna¬ 
mental shrubs. I know bow difficult it is to 
decide upon a few where there are so many 
really line, but I will cast my vote in favor 
of the following twentv-four sort# of decidu¬ 
ous shrubs, believing them to be among the 
very best of the kind and suited to culture in 
small as well as large gardens : 
A Unond .—Double White and Double Piuk. 
Azalea (American).—A. nudijlora ,, pink, 
and A. idscora, white. 
Cah/canlhu s floridux. — Sweet - scented 
shrub. 
Vydonia Japonira, Japan Quince; flowers 
hr e lit. scarlet. 
Deutzia crenuta plena, — Double*white; 
outside petals tinged with rose. D. gracilis. 
dwarf, white. 
Exochordiu grandi flora. — Flowers large, 
whits. 
Eornythia viridissima. —Deep yellow. 
Jlalexia letruplera.— Silver Bell; flowers 
pure white. 
Hydrangea paniculutu grandiflora. — 
Flowers white, ju immense racemes. 
Philnde'phicns coronariux. — Common 
Mock Orange or Hyring.t. 
Primus triloba. — Flowers pink, serai- 
double. 
Spiraa prunifOlia plena. —Double white; 
and N. Iiuvesis, single, white. 
Syrlngu vulgar lx alba. Common white 
lilac, N. Charles Xth and ,S. Persfca,—Per¬ 
sian purple. 
Virbumum plicatum. —New, small-flow¬ 
ered Snowball; and V. opulus, the old and 
well-known Snowball, 
Wrigclu Dvbotiana .—Deep rose-colored 
flowers. IF. hoHe.nnis nivea, llowcrr pure 
white ; and W. rosea, flowers rose-colored. 
White Fringe (Chionanthus \ r irginiea).— 
Flowers white, resembling fine cut paper. 
The above are hardy in nearly all of the 
Northern States. 
’EXCHANGING GUTTINGS. 
Dec. 1.—Nurserymen and florists use the 
mails extensively'for sending plants to dif¬ 
ferent parts of the country, as the postage is 
only eight cents per pound. But farmers 
seldom appear to know or think that they 
could take advantage of such a convenient 
mode of sending cutting' and plants to 
their friends or others. Farmers or those 
having small gardens in the far West, might 
have their friends at the East who possets an 
abundant supply of choice fruits and flowers 
send them cuttings, cions or roots by mail, 
and at very small cost. Not one hall' of the 
gardens on the prairies or elsewhere West 61 
of the Mississippi are supplied with currant 
bushes, and 1 dare sav the owners have 
some friends at the East who could send 
them a few cuttings by mail if requested to 
do so. Cut tings of grape vines, manyoma 
mental shrubs, raspberry and blackberry 
plan' s, may be sent by mail to any part of 
the United States without the least danger 
of loss. 
The materials required are a little soft 
moss, which cam bo found in almost any 
swamp or thick woods, and some oiled paper. 
If one is not where the latter can be pur¬ 
chased it is very easily made, as follows : 
Get some good brown Manilla paper—not 
too thick—then, with a brush, sponge, or a 
piece of cloth will answer, oil ode side thor¬ 
oughly and then hang up and dry. J use 
raw and boiled linseed oil in about espial 
parts, and hang up the puperin my work¬ 
shop, leaving it until wanted for use. Il 
should be well dried before using ; a mouth 
is none too long a time to have it get thor¬ 
oughly hardened. I always keep a supply 
nii hand, for it cannot, lie made and used the 
same day. In [lacking cuttings or plants to 
send by mail a little damp moss is put aronnd 
mid In among them; then wrap with the oiled 
paper; around this put another wrapper of 
good, strong brown paper, to prevent the oil 
injuring other mail matter with which it 
conies in contact. The directions may be 
written upon the outside wrapper or upon 
t he common tag so much in use at the pres¬ 
ent time. 
Packages of plants weighing over four 
pounds are not allowed; therefore it is 
always a safe plan to weigh the plants and 
moss before wrapping. I have been sending 
off a number of packages of plants to-day to 
some of my Western friends and correspond¬ 
ents, and v as thinking how many others 
might be doing the same without loss to 
themselves, but greatly to the benefit of 
others. The reason why so little of this ex¬ 
changing of such favors is done is because 
peopk; don't tnink of it at the proper time. 
The winter is as good time as any for send¬ 
ing liardy plants, seeds and cuttings, and 
most people have more leisure at. this season 
tlmu during the spring or autumn. 1 hope 
this hint may serve to remind those who 
have choice plants to spare, or those who 
have none and desire a supply, that the 
mails are a cheap and convenient mode of 
transportation. 
THE PRINCE OF APPLE GROWERS. 
We copy the following from the New York 
correspondence of the Troy Times. It is In¬ 
teresting as a matter of record, illustrating 
how a man may make money by building up 
a reputation for liis produce. Here is the 
letter: 
If you should be walking with mo on al¬ 
most any pleasant day in the Fifth Avenue, 
near Madison Square, I might point out the 
most successful pomolegist. (or apple grower) 
in the world, You would in this case pee a 
large and finely built, man, tastefully but not 
showily dressed, whose manners are sug¬ 
gestive of the old school, and who mingles 
literary and social culture with the highest 
art in agriculture. He is a scion of British 
nobility and the chief among American 
farmers ; that is, his lauds are made to pro¬ 
duce a better return to capital Hum in any 
other instance on record. Robert L. Pell, 
the gentlemen to whom reference is now 
made, is the lineal descendant of Lord Pell, a 
peer of the realm, who obtained a patent for 
a vast tract of land in Ulster County, near 
the old town of Esopus, Mr. Pell occupies 
the ancestral farm, which contains twelve 
hundred acres, all of which he cultivates by 
his own personal attention. During the 
spring, the summer and the autumn he re¬ 
sides upon the place, but when winter ap¬ 
proaches he removes to his Fifth Avenue 
palace, and thus becomes a resident of this 
great city. 
Mr. Pell, in his younger days, traveled 
much beyond the usual range of the tourist. 
He made the tour of Europe with post hors¬ 
es, and thus saw those details of life which 
the rail car now pas#es by, He also visited 
Greece and the Trend, which, although the 
history of Troy was then mythic, was still a 
place of intense interest. I may mention eti 
passant that while conversing with Mr. Pell 
on this subject, I referred to a very thrilling 
fact, viz., that Mr. Charles Francis told me 
that a few days before he left Athens be saw 
the Trojan treasures which Dr. Scblisman 
had unearthed, and had brought home as 
proofs of ancient history. Mr. Pell, m speak¬ 
ing of these wonderful discoveries, made the 
remark that teak wood 1-ad been found at 
the same time, and us this is a product of 
the Indies it suggested the extent of Trojan 
commerce. t)u returning home Mr. Pell de¬ 
voted himself to the supervision of hi# im¬ 
mense estate, for which he was adapted by 
a natural taste. Had he been born poor 
there can be no doubt that he would have 
got rich by the same system which has ena¬ 
bled him to succeed so remarkably on a grand 
scale. 
Mr. Pell’s father, who was noted for his 
good judgment in agricultural matters, stop¬ 
ping many years ago in the little village of 
Newtown, L, I., observed two pippin trees of 
Fnglish origin, whose fruit was much sought 
for. The one produced an apple tinted with 
yellow and red, and the other one of a green 
hue, the difference in color being solely 
caused by the difference in soil. He was so 
much pleased with the fruit that he deter¬ 
mined to create an extensive orchard of a 
similar kind. The cuttings were obtained 
from time to time ; trees were planted and 
grafted, and after many years of persever¬ 
ance and labor the grand orchard was in 
existence Mr. Pell then could show 300 acres 
planted with the Newtown pippin alone, and 
containing 31,000 trees. He then remarked 
“if each tree should yield his son one dollar 
a year it would be a handsome income.” His 
plan, however, lias been greatly exceeded, 
for some of these .very trees have yielded 
eighteen bushels at a picking. 
While so many rich sons fall victims to 
their own wealth by the vices which haunt 
prosperity, Robert L. Pell found his tastes 
better satisfied with his count ry seat and its 
enormous crops. He studied the arts of 
pomology and learned liaw to assist nature 
in her efforts to support mankind. Com¬ 
monly speaking the apple tree bears every 
alternate year. Mr. Pell determined to have 
an annual harvest, and to give his orchard a 
handsome start he sacrificed the crop a bear¬ 
ing year. AH the apples were picked green. 
He had discovered that the germ of the next 
year’s fruit was in existence at the time of 
the apple harvest, but that the tree would be 
so exhausted that this germ would fail of 
development, and a year of rest would fol¬ 
low before another crop could be produced. 
Having stopped his trees from fruiting in 
the manner I have mentioned, he was sure 
of a crop of what was generally tlie off year, 
and he determined to follow this up by a 
treatment which should abolish the off year 
system. He learned that trees require a 
variety of food, the chief of which is found 
in potash, lime and soda, and his orchard has 
been thus fed with all the success that could 
have been anticipated. The potash is found 
in wood ashes, lime is obtained from oyster 
shells at low cost (stone lime beiug undesira¬ 
ble), while soda is supplied by common salt. 
An orchard thus fed and judiciously pruned 
cannot fail of success, and although this sea¬ 
son is generally short of apples, Mr. Pell’s 
crop is of usual abundance. His plan is to fill 
his barn yard with swamp muck in the fall. 
Tin's absorbs the drainage, and it is at the 
some time supplied with the above men¬ 
tioned ingredient s. In the spring it is hauled 
into the orchard, which is plowed and sown 
with clover as an additional fertilizer. A 
nursery for the purpose of renewing the 
orchard is a part of the scheme, and most of 
the latter at present is young and in the most 
thrifty condition. 
During apple harvest about one hundred 
men are employed, and the work generally 
requires a fortnight. The rule is to pick the 
trees dean and not to let go of an apple until 
it rests iu the basket. The latter are laid 
carefully on the ground, and the. teamster 
picks them up with equal car® and conveys 
them to the apple house. The latter is one 
of Mr. Pell’s inventions, and he has four in 
use. They arc sp irioUs st ructures, perhaps 
40 by 100 feet (such, at least, is my recollec¬ 
tion from seeing one of them), and arc what 
might be called two stories high. The first 
story lias no windows. You enter by a wide 
door, and the apples are seen covering the 
entire interior to a depth of four feet. The 
upper part of the building has a few win¬ 
dows, and the door is grated, so that when 
closed there is an ascending draft. The fruit 
will, while in this place, discharge a very- 
large amount of moisture, and thus deliver 
itself from the chief cause of decay. An 
apple house at such a time Js really a fine 
sight. In three days the sweating is done, 
and the draft removes the moisture. The 
fruit is then sorted, and all below a certain 
size is carted to the cider mill, while the rest 
is packed for shipment. They arc placed in 
boxes, each of which contains one hundred 
of the best Newtown pippins, and are at 
once shipped to Liverpool. Mr. Pell’s fruit 
is as well known there as it is here, and he 
has adopted t he custom which prevails in the 
orange and lemon trade in this ciiy, viz., of 
soiling it at auction. The sales are largely 
attended and the pippins from the Pellliam 
farm are sold all over Europe. They some¬ 
times bring fourteen cents apiece by the box. 
Such is the value of a reputat ion, and in this 
point the Pcllhtuu fruit has for forty years 
been unrivalled. 
Mr. Pell has eighty acres dovotod to grapes, 
which are in great demand in this city. He 
has a peculiar way of placing the best (if 
there be any difference) at the bottom of the 
basket, and hence liis brand uoeds no recom¬ 
mendation. He has eight hundred acres un¬ 
der general cultivation, and with the assist¬ 
ance of improved machinery- the work is 
done by nine regular hands, with an extra 
force during fruit picking. His hay is got 
in the same day it is cut, and hence docs not 
often get injured by a shower. Ills cider is 
us popular as his apples, aud he has some¬ 
times ground and pressed 350,000 bushels. 
His walks around liis mansion are nine miles 
m extent, and are kept i;i perfect neatness. 
Mr. Pell’s core is as great a curiosity as his 
orchard. It has been measured eighteen 
feet high, and has yielded 160 bushels rdieiled 
com to the acre, while other fanners were 
complaining of the lightness of their crops. 
Mr. 1 J -11 explains this very philosophically. 
He tells me that the leaves of corn, being 
very broad, arc meant to inhale the gases 
floating in the atmosphere. Hence this 
plant should be driven forward as rapidly as 
possible, in order to get this gaseous food at 
an early part of the season. To accomplish 
this end the land must be manured in a lav¬ 
ish manner. 
When corn is planted on poor land, ac¬ 
cording to this theory, it has to send its 
roots far and near in order to find food, and 
hence its development is checked. Mi. Pell’s 
com lias small roots, relatively speaking, 
and the expanse of tops enables him to make 
it a profitable crop when land is worth A3Q0 
per acre. Perhaps if some of his views were 
more generally adopted a better style of 
farming would prevail. 
Making Mistakes.—P rof. Liebig used to 
say “Show me the rnan who makes no 
mistakes, and I will prove to you tliat he 
does nothing.” It. is easy enough for a sci¬ 
entific man who publishes nothing, but only 
criticises others, to escape the charge o'f 
committing errors, and for such persons 
Liebig entertained a wholesome contempt. • 
