18 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Hence we see the reason why those who retire from business 
towards the close of lite, so often become diseased, bodily and 
menially; and instead of enjoying themselves or making those 
around them happy, become a source of misery to themselves and 
others. 
Most people have a general belief in the importance of indus¬ 
trious habits; and yet not a few make strange work in endeavor¬ 
ing to form them. Some attempt to do it by compulsion—others 
by flattery—some think it is to be accomplished by set lessons, m 
spite of examp'e—others by example alone. 
A certain father who was deeply convinced of the importance 
of forming his sons to habits of industry, used to set them to pul¬ 
ling down or removing heaps of stones, and then putting them 
back again. lie has been known to employ them many a day in 
this alternate removing and replacing of stones. This was well 
intended, and arose from regarding industry as a high accomplish¬ 
ment; but there is some danger of defeating our own purpose in 
this way, by disgusting the young. Besides, an abundance of la¬ 
bor which is obviously profitable can usually be obtained. 
All persons, without exception, ought to labor more or less, eve¬ 
ry day in the open air. Of the truth of this opinion, the public 
are beginning to he sensible; and hence we hear much said, lately, 
about manual labor schools. Those who, from particular circum¬ 
stances, cannot labor in the open air, should substitute in its place 
some active mechanical employment, together with suitable calis- 
thentic and gymnastic exercises. 
It is a great misfortune of the present day, that almost every 
one is, by his own estimate, raised above his real stale of life. Near 
ly every person you meet with is aiming at a situation in which he 
shall be exempted from the drudgery of laboring with his bauds. 
Now we cannot all be ‘■'■lords" and “ gentlemen there must be 
a large part of us, after ali, to make and mend clothes and houses, 
and carry on trade and commerce, and, in spite of all that, we can 
do, the far greater part of us must actually work at something: 
otherwise we tall under the sentence, “He who will not work shall 
not eat.” Yet so strong is the propensity to be thought “ gentle¬ 
men i;” so general is this desire amongst the youth of this proud 
mom y making nation, that thousands upon thousands of them are, 
at this moment, in a state which may end in starvation, not so much 
because they are too lazy to earn their bread, as because they are 
too proud! 
And what are the consequences ? Such a youth remains or be 
comes, a burden to his parents, of whom he ought to be the com¬ 
fort, if not the support. Always a.-piring to something higher than 
he can reach, his life is a life of disappointment and of shame. If 
marriage befal him, it is a real affl ction, invo ving others as well as 
himself. His lot is a thousand times worse than that of the com¬ 
mon laboring person. Nineteen times out of twenty a premature 
death awaits him : and, alas ! how numerous are the cases in which 
that death is most miserable, not to say ignominious. 
Sloth, a seductive syren, should be most carefully avoided.— 
Horace. The indolent man can never be useful, either to himself 
or to promote the well being of others. 
He is indeed a conqueror who overcomes himself.— Sat. 
THE CULTIVATOR—APRIL, 1835. 
TO IMPROVE THE SOU, AND THE MT\D. 
THE GARDEN. 
There are few subjects more apt, to excite the surprise ofintelli- 
gent foreigners, than the almost total neglect of our farmers to 
cultivate a garden : and the inference they draw from this omission, 
is neither complimentary to our good sense, or our good taste 
In most European countries, a well cultivated garden is not. only 
common am- ng farmers, but. even the humble cottager, who live> 
upon his daily earnings, prides himself in the neat cultivated patch 
that surrounds his cottage, which administers largely to the sits 
tenance of his family, and affords a variety of grateful delicacies, 
which cheer his toils and multiply his enjoyments. But we need 
not cross the Atlantic for evidence of the economy and comforts ol 
a garden. We are n'ot wholly destitute of gardens nor of taste; 
and there -s perhaps no branch of rural improvement that is mak¬ 
ing greater progress among us than this. We have probably ad¬ 
vanced farther in improvement, in horticulture during the last twen¬ 
ty years than in the preceding century. The work will progress. 
Who among us that has known the pleasure of daily partaking of 
fruits and vegetables, in all the variety of our climate, freshly 
plucked or gathered from his garden, does not esteem them among 
the choicest blessing of life. Our old men yet remember the time, 
when potatoes were hardly deemed worth cultivating, or when they 
were considered as innovating upon the settled rules of the farm, 
and when half a dozen bushels were the extent of a farmer’s crop. 
Yet this root is now deemed indispensable, and its cultivation, on a 
large scale, considered as a matter of economy. It forms the prin¬ 
cipal food, in countries where if was once unknown. What the 
potato was a century ago, many fine fruits and garden vegeta¬ 
bles are now—treasures unknown or misprised by the mass of 
farmers. The products of a kitchen garden materially lessen the 
consumption of more expensive food, afford a grateful varie'y for 
the table, and are highly promotive of health. They are besides 
matter of substantial profit to the cultivator, for there is scarcely a 
district of our country which does not furnish a market for any 
surplus that is produced. What man would consent to have de¬ 
stroyed a fine vine, or peach, plum or pear tree, which produced 
him choice fruit, for ten times what it cost him] We have in our 
mind a friend, who cultivates two acres in fruit and vegetables: 
and we know he has repeatedly sold in a year, of the former, more 
than a thousand dollars worth, and had a constant, supply of both 
for his table. The outlay for all this was but trifling, for he soon 
became self-taught, and propagated his own fruit trees. A greaier 
income this, from two acres, than many farms of a hundred yield. 
To decend somewhat to detail. Say a cnoice grape vine will 
cost two or three shillings—a plum four—a pear three, and a peach 
two, and currants ami goo-eberies enough to make up, in the whole 
two dollars. We give nursery prices for the choicest fruit. In a 
few years, the vine will yield him a bushel or two of grapes, and 
the trees a bushel or more of fruit each, which will be worth in 
market, or in his family, at least ten dollars, with a fair prospect of 
a rapid increase in the product. Having formed the nucleus, the 
boys, with a little practice, will soon acquire the art, which every 
farmer ought to possess, of increasing the quantity and variety, by 
budding, grafting, layering, &c. And the labor, that will be required 
in doing this, need abstract nothing from the profits of the farm— 
the hours that are misspent, or wasted in idleness, will suffice for 
the task. Everv plant thus produced, will become an object of 
interest. In 1832, the fruit from two pear-trees sold for #45, at 
the fair market price. 
It is not alone from mercenary views, and the mere gratification 
of the animal appetite, that we recommend the cultivation of a gar¬ 
den. The garden administers to the wants of the mind as well as 
of the body. We are endowed with senses other than the sense of 
taste, which may be made to contribute much to the higher en¬ 
joyments of life, and which receive gratification in the beauties and 
fragrance of the vegetable kingdom. He who realizes in the trees 
and flowers of the garden, the wonderful handy-works of his Cre¬ 
ator, provided for the wants and comforts of man, possesses a scource 
ot happiness unknown to the mercenary worlding. The pleasures 
which arise from the beauties of the natural world, are pure and 
unalloyed, and are frought with humility and b- nevolence. 
In order to facilitate a knowledge of propagating, and the in¬ 
troduction of good fruits, we have procured cuts_ illustrating the 
most popular modes of grafting, and will give brief directions for 
managing the process ; and we shall in due time speak of the other 
m thods of propagating, and give a list ot the most approved gar¬ 
den and orchard fruits. From a pretty general acquaintance with 
fruits, native and foreign, acquired by critical observation formally 
years, in our business as a nurseryman, and from being somewhat 
of an amateur, we venture to say, that nine-tenth of our farmers 
are unacquamted with the choice fruits which ihe garden yields, 
particularly o the peach, pear and plum; and that the best fruits 
are yet but partially disseminated among them. 
April is the general season for grafting in this latitude, though 
it is sometimes performed in March, and sometimes omitted till May. 
The grafts should, however be cut. before the buds begin to swell. 
The scions are most likely to live if inserted when the sap is cir¬ 
culating freely, for then the wounds soonest heal. 
The materials and implements required for grafting, are—1. A 
sharp knife to cut and pear the graft, and stalk ;—2. A strong knife 
and mallet, to split the larger stalks, and a small hard wood wedge 
to put into the cleft while the scion is fitted to its place;—3. Strips 
