66 
October 24. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Perhaps no one ever prepared to emigrate with less 
worldliness of spirit, or in a more holy frame of mind. Yet 
this very fact may be intended as a warning to Christians to 
look well to their undertakings—to take heed to their ways— 
to examine very closely their motives—and look deeply and 
prayerfully into what they are going to do, when any great 
change of this kind is contemplated. To leave religious 
light and ordinances and privileges behind us, appears to bo 
so plainly opposed to the will ami precepts of the Lord, and 
so dangerous to the soul, that scarcely any reason or cause 
can justify it. It seems to be acting in the spirit of the 
Israelites, who fled for help to Pharaoh king of Egypt, 
instead of covering themselves with the cover of the Holy 
Spirit, and asking at the mouth of the Lord: “For thus 
saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning 
and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence 
shall be your strength ; and yo would not. But ye said, no; 
for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, 
we will ride upon the swift; therefore, shall they that pursue 
you be swift.” Let us consider this matter well. 
Mr. Johnston continues: “lie has now left his home for 
ever; he is now in a strange laud, far from his native 
country. In the midst of the bustle of an emigration sea¬ 
port everything is new to him—new faces, new circum¬ 
stances, new sights, new scenes—even the church at 
Plymouth is new—he has never seen or heard an organ 
before! It is not to be wondered at, if we find him writing 
more fully about worldly matters than wc have been hitherto 
accustomed. But still, notwithstanding the preponderance 
which we are now to find in his letters on these points, there 
is the same heavenly spirit breathing through them, there 
is the same highly spiritual tone appearing, perhaps at 
wider intervals, and scattered more lightly over the surface, 
but still to be seen here and there, like a thread of gold, 
interwoven throughout, showing that though his position 
and circumstances were altered, the man was still the same; 
his affection set on things above, and his heart still fixed 
upon that Saviour whom he loved with such a warmth of 
devotion. Like the manner’s compass, which, however it 
may veer or vibrate in the storm, still points to the pole- 
star when at rest, so with him, whenever freed from the 
whirl of excitement in which he was kept by the business 
and occupation which daily pressed and increased upon him, 
his heart still turned to Jesus as his only real abiding rest¬ 
ing-place. His soul clavo to Him as his cliiefest joy.” 
Perhaps one of these simple, beautiful letters may interest 
some reader. 
“ Dear brother'William,—As I have no potatoes to dig 
here, nor corn to thresh, nor any thing of the sort—all 
around me is a vast, large ocean—l therefore wish to write 
you this little note, as it will he an amusement to me to write 
betimes when I am sending a letter to father; probably I 
will write to him from the Cape of Good Hope, if the Lord 
will spare me to reach that harbour, and I have got time. 
* * * * VVe set sail from Plymouth on Tuesday even¬ 
ing, 10th October, 1849. You would wonder to see a ship 
set sail. I suppose there were fifteeu or twenty sailors; 
they were hoisting up the sails, which are like sheets, or 
winnowing cloths ; perhaps there were fifteen or twenty of 
them hoist up. If you were to hear all the sailors sing a 
departing song, as they were all bringing in the anchor, you 
would feel her moving. They would sing—‘Now she goes !’ 
‘Now she goes;’ and so she was moving slowly off. IVe 
passed many a vessel since. We are now in the Atlantic ; 
we do not see so much of them now. Some days we see 
two or three, and some days more. If they pass near us, 
our captain calls out who they are ? they answer as they 
pass by. If they are for London or Plymouth, he tells them 
to say they had met the Cornwall, and that she was getting 
on well. There are a few sheep in the ship, also a few 
pigs, and a good number of hens. 
“ Now, dear brother, I would give you one word of advice, 
though very far distant, and that is to seek and find a 
Saviour. Jesus Christ is love. Oh come to Him ; He will 
in no wise cast you out. If during life you have Christ in 
your soul, He will not leave you in death; and would not 
this be worth the whole world! Oh yes, a thousand worlds. 
It is the blood of Christ that cleanseth us from all sin. Oh 
that precious blood ! Should we not go to Christ with every 
sin, and get it covered, and be covered ourselves, with His 
righteousness ? Oh be wise, and understand this; it is a 
very important thing—it may well be called ‘ the one thing 
needful.’ I wish you to regard this as a simple, yet im¬ 
portant word of advice. I enclose these lines in my father’s 
letter. “ I remain your affectionate brother, 
“ John Henry.” 
Readers; we are “careful and troubled about many j 
things.” Let us ponder John Henry’s important advice | 
from the emigrant’s ship while time is ours ! 
MOVING VINES WHEN IN FLOWER, AND 
PEACH AND NECTARINE TREES WITH ■ 
FRUIT ON THEM. 
1 have thought (should it not intrude on your valuable 
space), of sending you the result of an experiment which I 
superintended this season with some Peach-trees. 
In the course of the improvements which are being so 
extensively carried out by his Grace the Duke of Devon¬ 
shire; at Buxton, it was contemplated to throw down a range 
of hothouses (that stood in the middle of what are termed 
the Serpentine Walks), which consisted of two I ineries and 
a Peach-house; and there being no other glass at the place, 
it was resolved to put everything to the hammer; and, it 
being about the 10th of April, the Vines were in flower and 
the Peaches were set—a very unlikely time to move such 
things. 
However, as we had a Vinery and Peach-house at the time 
nearly complete, my employer was desirous to try the ex¬ 
periment of moving them. It may be conceived, the experi¬ 
ment was not a tempting one for me to move \ines in 
flower that had seen the top of twenty summers, and Peach- 
trees, of the same age, studded with fruit the size of Peas, 
that had not been lifted all that time; nor were we so far 
advanced as to receive them until the last week of April; 
and the houses at Buxton being then in course of removal, 
I was obliged to move the trees, and that under the influence 
of a hot sun and an easterly wind. 
The Peaches and Nectarines were first moved; and it 
may be well to mention that the Peaches were on the 
dwarfing system, and did not cover a space of more than 
forty square feet each, but the Nectarines about eight square 
yards. We proceeded accordingly to raise them with due 
care, but were unable to retain a particle of the soil to their 
roots, which were immediately wrapped in a mat, and trans¬ 
ferred to their new position, duly spread, covered, and 
watered, the leaves shaded, moistened, and kept so for at 
least a fortnight, until they had taken hold; not forgetting 
to examine daily what I expected would result from their 
untimely transition, viz., the falling of the fruit. However, 
weeks passed over, but none of the Peaches seemed to shew 
the slightest appearance of being disengaged ; but the Nec¬ 
tarines were reduced to half their number, leaving about two 
dozen on each tree; and as the Peaches would not volun¬ 
tarily relinquish their place, I deemed it prudent to thin 
i them out to about one dozen and-a-lialf on each tree, and 
the whole went on to perfection, so that between the 25th of 
July and the 18th of August I harvested seven dozen and 
j one Peaches and Nectarines. The Nectarines were below 
i an average size, but tolerably flavoured; but the Teaches 
were of an average size, measuring from five-and-a-half to 
. seven-and-a-half inches in circumference, but somewhat de¬ 
ficient in flavour, notwithstanding every precaution to 
secure it. 
The odd one mentioned above was a Peach that grew on 
a small tree, which, as I am informed, was formerly in a pot, 
but as the roots protruded though the bottom, the pot was ; 
broken, and the tree planted in the border, where it remained j 
four years. Previous to being lifted in April last, when it : 
was replaced in a twenty-inch pot, it showed only one [ 
fruit, which it perfected, and turned out to be the best- I 
flavoured of any. 
The Peach-trees have made beautiful wood, and are a 
perfect mass of flower-buds. The Nectarines have, perhaps, \ 
made longer shoots, but not so promising. 
You will not be at all surprised, when I tell yon that the 
less we say about the Vines the better. However, one of i 
them lias made a tolerable shoot of fifteen feet in length. | 
