The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1871-08-04
THE JOURNAL.
The Two asrdeners-Eealthfulness
NJ Charcoal

oniana:"
A certain nobleman very proud OF
tbeextep5 and beauty of his pleasure
grounds chancing one day to call on
q small squire whose garden might
cover half an acre was greatly struck
with the brilliant colors ofhis neigh
boris flowers. SAY, my lord the flow
ers are well enough said the squire
butpermit me to show you my
grapes"
Conducted into an old-fashioned
little greenhouse, which served as a
winery, my lord gazed with mortif.
cation and envy on grapes twice as
fine as his own. "My dear friend, said
my lord you have a jewel of a garden
er; let me see him.
The gardener was called-the sin,
gle gardeners simple looking young
man under thirty accept my
compliments on your doWer-beds
and grapes" said my lord sand tell
me if yon can tell why your flowers
are so much brighter than mine and
your grspes so much finer. You
must have studied horticulture pro-
foundly.
"Please your lordship," said the
man j have not had the advantage Of
much education; I bean't no scholar;
but as to the flowers and the vines
the secret as to treating them just
came to me you see by chance"
@By chance ? explain"
''Wen, my lord, three years ago
master sent me to Lundon on buis-
ness of his,n and it came on to rain
and took shelter in a news you see.
"Yes you took shelter in a news
and what thenP
And there we're two gentleman
took shelter too; and they were talk
ing to each other about charcoal .
About charcoal! Go OF"
And one said that it had done a
deal o. good in many kinds Of sick
ness and especially in the first stage
of cholera; and I took a note on
mind of that because w'd had the
cholera in our village the year afore,
and 1 guessed the two gentlemen
were doctors and knew what they
were talking about"
Il dare say they did; bat flowers
and vines don't have the cholera do
theyg' q No my lord; but they have
complaints of their own; and one of
the gentlemen went on to say that
charcoal had a special good eff
feet upon all vegetable life and tod
a story of a vinedresser IN Germany
think, who had made a very sickly
poor Yinyard one of the best in all
those parts, simply by charcoal dres-
sings. So 1 naturally pricked up
my ears st that for our vines were
in so bad way that master thought
of doing away with them altogether
'Ay' said the other gentleman, and
see how a little sprinkling of char
coal viii brighten up a flower bed.
The rain was now over and the
gentlemen left; and 1 thought
Well but before I try the charcoal
upon my plants I'd best make some
inquiry ofthem as aren't doctors but
gardners; so I went to our nursery
man, who has deal of book learning
and I asked him if he'd ever heard Of.
charcoal being good for vines; aud
he said he had read in book that it
was so but they had never tried it.
He kindly lent me the book which
was translated from some foreign one
And after I had picked out of it
all could 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. |
Its a lucky chance that ever l
heard these gentlemen talking in the
news please your lordship."
"Chance happens to all, " answered
the peer sententiously; "but to turn
chance to account is the gift Of few.
His lordship returning home gazed |
on the huse Of his vas par
terres; he visited his wineries and |
scowled at the clusters he summoned |
his head gardner, a gentleman of the |
highest repute for science and who |
never spoke of cowslip except by
its name in Latin. To this learned |
parsonage my lord communicated |
what he had heard and seen of the |
benignant effects Of charcoal and |
produced in proof a magnificent
bunch Of grapes which he brought
from the squires.
"My lord" said the gardener,
glancing at the grapes,
i'Squire--'s gardener must be a
poor ignorant creature to fancy he
had discovered a secret in what is
80 very well known to every profess
ed hortieulturist. Professor Liebig,
my lord, has treated of the good ef-
feet Of charcoal dressing to vines es-
peeially; and it is to be explained on
these chemical principles" There
with the wise man entered into a
profound dissertation, of which his
.ordship did not understand word.
"Well then," said the peer, cutting
short the harangue, "since you know
80 well that charcoal dressing is
good for vines and flowers, have you
ever tried it on miner
81 can't say I have, my lord; it 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"
My lord, who, if he did not know
much about horticulture, was good
udge of mankind, dismissed the man
If learning; and with many apologies
or seeking to rob his neighbor of
iuch treasure, asked the squire to
ransfer to his service the man of
genius. The squire, who thought
hat now the charcoal had been once
discovered, any new gardener could
lpply it as well as the old one, was
90 happy to oblige my lord and ad-
-ance the fortunes Of an honest fel-
ow born in his village. His lord
hip knew very well that a man who
makes good use ofthe ideas received
through chance will make a still bet
er use of the ideas received through
tudy. He took some kind, but not
unselfish, pains with the
and education of the man of
.enius whom he had gained to his
ervice. The man is now my lords
.ead forester and bailiff. The woods
hrive under him, the farm pays