July 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
303 
“ The hoftry head is a crown of rejoicing, if it bo found in 
the way of righteousness;” hut alas! what a wofhl sight, 
what a clothing of “ shame and dishonour” is it, when it is 
found in the way of sin ! An old man “ lightly esteemed ”— 
an old man, the object of scorn, reproach, or loathing to all 
around him ! Can the earthly portion be made more bitter? 
No. The depths of poverty are nothing; sorrow, bereave¬ 
ment, the Union Workhouse itself, may be hailed almost 
with joy as the bounds of our evening habitation ; one who 
holds the hand of his loving bather, cares not where IIo 
leads him; hut to have no Father, no God, no bright hope 
beyond the night that is closing in, to have no inward 
sanctuary to dwell in, no whispering Friend to cheer and 
and rejoice the heart; 1 his it is that tips the arrows of the 
Lord with poison ; this it is that makes the obscuring cloud 
send forth crashing peals and withering flashes! “ A 
youth of folly, an old age of cards,” is but a poet’s view, of 
theso terrible sights ; but a youth of sin, and an old age of 
shame, of the hiding of God's face, of “light esteem ’’ in 
His regard, is the view a Christian, a true believer, takes of 
this awful catastrophe, and it makes him tremblo. Bitter 
as the punishment is on earth, it is hut as the first light 
drops before the tempest. Dreadful ns it- is to live without 
God here, what will it be to live without Him hereafter? 
Oh ! if we would but consider for one little minute, how 
dearly purchased earth’s vanities and pleasures are, when 
we come to fay down their price —when we barter for them 
every real good, and kuow that they are wrapped up in an 
] old age of shame, and an eternity of darkness ;—if we would 
but consider this, surely we should refuse to trade as we do 
with Satan ; surely we should flee from his baited trap, and 
seek, instead of his jingling coin, “ the unsearchable riches 
of Christ.” 
Reader ! ponder theso things. They are of mighty con¬ 
sequence. Remember, remember the solemn warning God 
has given us. It is not man’s word, and we see it continu¬ 
ally made plain before our face, “ They that honour me, I 
will honour; and they that despise me, shall be lightly 
esteemed.” 
RAISING FRUITS FROM SEED. 
We know of no subject on which we can more profitably 
offer a few observations at this time of the year than that of 
raising fruit from seed. We are every year ransacking 
foreign countries for new varieties; wo are not satisfied with 
what we have, and wo never shall be. It is in the nature of 
1 man to seek for novelties; and it is well, on the whole, that 
j it is so. We shall not say a word against this, but desire to 
| commend to people’s attention the abundant means naturo 
| has placed in our reach to produce new varieties here, at 
, home, on our own soil. 
Shall these bo neglected? We hope not. There seoms, 
fortunately, at the present time, a disposition in the public 
mind favourable to the improvement of home roscources in 
a gardening sense, and the raising of seedling fruit is 
certainly one qf the most important. Just enough has been 
done to show the facility, and afford us encouragement to 
| proceed. Dr. Kirtland’s Cherries, Dr. Brinckle’s Raspberries, 
and many varieties of Strawberries, all of much merit, are 
recent additions to our lists of fruits, raised from seed in the 
simplest manner, without any regard to the niceties of hy¬ 
bridization ; so we can count up fifteen or twenty first-rate 
American seedling Apples, some of which, and indeed many, 
have a national reputation, all raised from chance seedlings. 
Now, in fruit-raising, it is of the highest importance that 
every man cultivate such varieties as are best adapted to his 
soil and climate. One of the great problems which pomo- 
logists are at present endeavouring to solve relates to this 
very point. As botanists havo divided the earth into zones* 
of vegetation, eaoh of which is characterized by a peculiar 
flora, by the prevalence of certain trees, and shrubs, and 
plants that flourish there, and there only; so, in fruit-culture 
it is believed necessary to map off this great country of ours, 
embracing such a variety of climate, into pomological zones, 
in each of which certain fruits succeed better than in others. 
On this pomological chart, that our American Bornological 
Society, if it live and thrive, intend one day to appoint a 
commission to make out, shall be clearly defined the exact 
limits of successful cultivation of our Sartlclts, (Williams’ 
Bonchrfitien) Sockets, and Virgalieus ; our Nswtown Pippins, 
Baldwins, and Spys ; and this will certainly be a most 
interesting and valuable map. But it may be a long time 
yet before it is completed, or before we shall have collected 
the great mass of facts and statistics which the execution of 
the project will demand. 
Meantime, it must be urged upon fruit growers, both pro¬ 
fessional ami amateur, every man or woman, boy or girl, who 
can obtain seeds of fine fruits, to plant them and rear them 
into bearing trees. It scarcely admits of a doubt hut that 
this is the true, and almost the only way to obtain varieties 
completely adapted to all local circumstances ; this can be 
read plainly in the history of nearly all our native fruits. 
As a general thing, their culture is most succesful in the 
region of their origin. Some, like certain genera of plants, 
are confined to narrow limits, beyond which they do not 
appear to prosper; others admit of a greater diffusion, and 
adapt themselves to a greater variety of circumstances. 
The most forcible illustration of this is found in the case 
of northern and southern fruits. The Fameitse, Pomme, 
Grisc, and some other apples of the north, are best in the 
coldest latitudes, and fail as they go south, until they 
become utterly valueless before they reach the Mississippi. 
So in the case of southern fruits, like the Bawles' Janet, 
Tewkesbury Winter Blush; Ac., that succeed only where the 
seasons are very long, and are entirely valueless in the north, 
as spring opens about the first of May, and the autumnal 
frosts come as early as the first of October. The Porter and 
Baldwin are in no place so good as in Massachusetts; the 
Newtown Pippin is best on Long Island and the Hudson, the 
Spitzenburgh in New York, Ac. 
Aside from the unquestionable facts of the case, it is 
clearly natural that this should be so. A variety springing 
up from seed in any given locality, is, in the course of its 
production, endowed with a constitution and habits adapted 
to that locality in a particular manner—just as men are 
more at home in the climate and mode of life of their native 
country than in any other, and are, in a measure, proof 
against local diseases that strangers would immediately fall 
victims to. This is all in strict conformity to the harmonious 
laws that regulate and govern all nature, animate and in¬ 
animate. 
Now, we are an impatient people—a “fast ” people,to use 
a current term—and we are quite loth to embark in anything 
that does not promise immediate results. Our young men 
greatly prefer hazarding their lives for the chance of se¬ 
curing a lump of California, gold, to working a fortune 
patiently, but surely, out of their paternal acres. To such 
people, raising new and fine fruits from seed, where perhaps 
not more than one in ten thousand may be a prize, is a 
slow business, and anything probably cannot convince them 
that it is more rapid than they imagine. But we shall try, 
nevertheless. 
Suppose, for instance, we wish to produce some seedling 
Strawberries; we tako the finest berries of the best kinds 
to he had; they must be perfectly ripe; either wash the 
seeds out of the pulp or crush the berries, and spread out 
pulp, seeds, and all to dry. We then sow either the clean 
seeds, or dried pulp and seeds, in light earth, and by 
autumn we have nice plants. These need protection during 
the winter by a oovering of leaves, and the next spring they 
are planted out into beds. The following season they bear, 
and then it is seen whether we have gained a prize or not. 
Raspberries, Currants, and Gooseberries, are managed exactly 
in the same manner, and bring forth fruit in the same time. 
This is not a tedious process. Three years, or four, enable 
us to arrive at some result with these small fruits, and very 
important fruits they are. It would take as long as this to 
raise a colt fit for market, and a first-rate Strawberry, 
Currant, or Raspberry is as valuable as two or three good 
colts, at least, or it might be half a dozen. 
Peaches are easily raised from seed, and come quickly 
into bearing. Every one knows the method of raising 
Peaches from seed. The fresh stone may be transferred at 
once from the pulp to the ground, and in three or four years 
it will yield fruit. Pears and Apples are more tedious ; but 
there is a way to manage these to obtain an early result. 
Suppose, now, in 1851, we collect seeds of the finest Apples 
and Pears ; as they are taken from the fruits they are placed 
