Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-10-06


introduce the potato into France. From
among your number have come the clear
sighted and unerring and quick-witted
workers, who have made Immediate APP |
plication of every good suggestion, and
have brought agriculture to high stan |,
dard. To you belong especially that |
class, who having acquired their knowl-
edge, reproduce it in some useful form
for the practical benefit of mankind;
that class whose minds are not so bur
thened with theories that when the mo-
ment for action comes, they lose sight
of the very object for which their theo-
ries were constructed.
Bulwer, in one of his essays, tells an
admirable story to illustrate the readi-
ness with which some of you do ana all
of you should apply the knowledge
which comes to your minds when they
are intent on your occupation.
IA certain nobleman, very proud of
the extent and beauty of his pleasure
grounds, CHANGING one day to call on
small squire, whose garden might cover
about half an acre, was greatly struck
with the brilliant colors of his neigh
boris flowers-'Aye, my lord the flowers
are we'll enough said the squire, but
permit me to show you my grapes Con
Quoted into an old fashioned little green
house which served as winery, my lord
gazed with modification and envy on
grapes twice as fair as his own My
friend, said my lord, you have jewel
of gardener, let me see him. The gar
dener was caled-the sing gardener
u simple looking young man, under thir-
ty. Accept my compliments on your
flower beds, and your grapes, said my
lord, and tell me- If you can. why your
! flowers are SO much brighter than mine,
and your grapes so much tairer. You
have studied horticulture profoundly
please your lordship,' said the man, I
havo not had the advantage of much
! education; | be MT no scholar; but as
to the flowers and the vines, the secret
as to training them just came to me,
( you see, by chance.
by chance? explain
We'll, my lord three years ago, mas
ter sent me TO Lunnon, on business of
hisn; and it came on to rain, and took
shelter in the news, you see. And
there were two gentlemen taking shell
ter too; aud they were talking about
charcoal And one said it had
done deal of good in many cases OF
sickness, and especially in the first stage
of cholera; and | took note on my mind
of that, because we'd had the cholera in
our village the year afore; and guessed
the two gentlemen We're doctors.
And one gentleman went to say that
charcoal had n special good effect upon
all vegetable life and told a story of a
vine dresser in Germany, | think, who
had made sickly poor vineyard one OF
the best in all those parts, simply by
| charcoal dressing. So | naturally prick. d
up my ears at that, for our vines were
Ill so bad 4 way, that master thought OF
! doing away with them altogether. r "
Wei before | tried the charcoal on my
plants | went to our nuserymau who
has deal Of book learning, and asked
him ii he'd ever heard of charcoal dress
ing being good for vines, audhe said he
had read in Il book that it was SO. but
he had never tried it, He lent
me the book and | tried the charcoal in
the way the book told me to try it, and
that's how the grapes and the flower.
beds came to please you, my lord. II
was lucky chance that | ever heard
the gentlemen talking in the news
please your lOrdship.'
Chance happens to all, answered the
peer sententiously, but to turn chance
to account is the gut of few
His lordship returned home gazeC
gloomily on the heirs of his vast par
terres he visited his wineries, anC
scOwled at the clusters he summoned
his head GARDENER gentleman of The
highest reputation for science, aud who
never spoke of a cowslip except by its
name in Latin. To this learned person
age my lord communicated what he haC
heard and seen of the benignant effect,
of charcoal, and produced in proof &
magnificent banch of grapes, which ht
had brought from the squres Ga.
| My lord, said che gardener, scarcely
| glancing at the grapes, squire IS
gardener must be poor ignorant crea
ture to fancy he has discovered secret
in what is SO very well known to every
protested horticulturist. Professor Lie
big, my lord. has treated of the good
effect of charcoal dressing to vines espe.
cially, and it is to be explained on theil
chemical principles, Herewith the
wise man entered into a profound dis
sertation of which his lordship did not
understand word
We'll them said the peer, cutting short
the harangue, since you know so well
that charcoal dressing is good for vines
and flowers, have you ever tried it IN
mine?
i can't say that l have. 1t did not
chance to come into my head. Nay
replied the peer, chance put it into your
head, but thought never took it out of
your head"
His lordship knew very well that a
man who makes good use Of the ideas
received by chance will make still
better use of ideas received through
| study. He therefore discharged his
learned, but thoughtless, gardener, and
employed the observing and intelligent
young man, who had conducted the
/ sources plants with such brilliant sue
cess. You can imagine the result which
| followed.
| The peer and the gardener have both
| learned the value of observation, the
usefulness of theory and practice COM