Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1869-02-04
Agttealtnrat aepattnemt.
From the American Farmer.
HORTICULTURAL SECRETS.

! HORTICULTURAL SECRETS.
There can be no doubt that whatever Is
worth knowing in horticulture is pretty sure
to be known, more or less, among the whole
/ fraternity of Northumberland those who
pretend to have great secrets, by which they
are able to command much greater sue
cess than their neighbors, may be set down
as self-deceived or very desirous of deceiv-
ling others. From being favorably suited
as to condition of soil, climate, protection
from cold east and northern storms, or some
other natural advantage, they are not un-
frequently misled themselves, or would de-
ceive others into the belief that their sue
cess is entirely owing to some smartness
which none but themselves have been able
to discover.
This class of people our young horticul-
turists should shun. They can tell moth
ing worth knowing, and are generally igno-
rant of the first principles on which the
most ordinary horticultural operations are
performed, and more than that, are igno-
rant of their own ignorance.
In the various mechanical arts there are
|secrets which it is profitable to conceal, and
through which fortunes have been amassed
but this is scarcely possible where nature is
not only the motive but the ruling power,
and must be implicitly obeyed. So far as
we understand it, nothing is more simple
than this obedience to the laws of nature,
SO essential to all successful horticultural
operations.
That nature has many secrets is well
known, but she never conceals them save
from those who do not inquire for them.
Those who do inquire, find her as willing
| to teach them as they are to learn, and in
no place throughout the glorious creation
! is this more evident than in the field and
garden.
Unfortunately there are people, and par
ticularly amateur gardeners, who, when
they see an extra sized bunch of grapes or
q dish of extra fine strawberries, think
there must be some secret in the art of pro-
Educing them, and thus give the professed
horticulturist credit for great amount of
practical knowledge he never possessed or
,|laid claim to, and for keeping secret
(which never existed. We are aware that
discipline -(perhaps severe) and perfect
submission to certain natural laws, are es-
|sential to the successful cultivation of eve
Try kind of plant. But that does not ap-
pear to enter the minds of the inquirers.
They attribute success to very different
cause-some peculiar secret, which the prac-
tical horticulturist knows nothing of. Our
aim is not to "keep secrets" and to those
who fall into the mistaken notion that we
do, I would suggest that it would be well
for them to consider that all kinds of plants
and trees with which the horticulturists
have to deal, are possessed of vitality, and
cannot be tampered with; and to be sue
lcessful in all the various operations in hor-
ticulture, agriculture, or Horticulture, there
must be no deviation from the laws which
j govern vegetable growth. If so, it will
soon show its unwished for results.
From those, therefore, who profess to
know and keep great secrets, turn away
follow not in their footsteps. Nature and
good common sense will teach all the Sc
crets in horticulture worth knowing. D. B.