I455    THE WISCONSIN FARMER.



write in her own words), is guilty of the a
crime of malicious mischief and should be v
punished without the benefit of clergy under v
the statutes of 'Moses in such eases made and b
provided-taken without the gates and stoned,t
and no more admitted into the congregation t
of the Lord-i. e. among the fruit growers. a
For, she says, nothing short of the imminent I
peril of such an infliction will keep some vains
young farmers-generally esquires, consta- o
bles, schoolmasters or retired peddlars-out of8
the public prints. I have no doubt but the I
old lady is in earnest in what she says.  i
  Asking your pardon for obtruding my name
before an appreciating public (being impel-
led to it in defense of a large and respectable
class, to which I have the honor to belong,) I
take my final but respectful leave by sub-
scribing myself. in the bonds of faith in the
Delaware grape and the platform of Dr.
Grant, of lonian Island, near Peekskill, New
York.
       Your friend.                PELEC.
  65LNER5 GREEN, Okt, 186U

  GARDEWING Di GENERAL AND GRAPE CUL-
  TURE IN PARTICULAhL-AN EXAMPLE
  WORTHY OF COMMENDATION.
  Every successive year finds us saying with
  added emphasis, WVhat 's the need of our starv-
  ing for fruit in Wisconsin, when nature has
  been so careful to provide everything really
  essential to the highest success0

  A recent visit to the Nursery grounds of
  Mr. Isaac Atwood, of Lake Mills, raised this
  question, and became the immediate occasion
  of this present article.
  The piece of land now occupied by Mrs. A.s
  flourishing little nursery, garden and vineyard
  was, at the time of purchase by him, one half
  gravelly hill-side, covered with oak and hazel
  bushes and boulders ; the other half was lit-
  erally under water. Almost anybody but ir.
  Atwood or an obl country Dutchman would
  have laughed at the idea of making anything
  valuable out of such a heaven-abused tract
  as it was deemed. But the eye of a true
  gardener-which is always the eye of an



rtist-saw that here was the beginning of
rhat could one day be made the envy of the
whole laughing neighborhood, and Mr. A.
bought it, paying the round price of some-
hing like $100 per acre I But even this, at
hat day-the ttme of fever-heat in Wisconsin
peculation-in view of its lying within the
imits of a (prospectively) great city, was con-
sidered dirt cheap; and the skill and industry
of Mr. A. have made good the assertion in
spite of the fact (admitted, we believe,) that
Lake Mills is not yet a city of fifty thousand
uhabitants.
The labor of redemption from water and
stony wildness was long, and will be remem-
bered by the engineer-and-all-hands who per-
formed a good share of it; but the results are
a sufficient compensation, and the story may
be short. Draining and dyking did the busi-
ness of removing a surplus of water, and
grubbing, trenching and terracing have made
the hill-side as beautiful as the banks of the
glorious Rhine. So that, as this nursery now
presents itself to the eye of the stranger, it
looks just exactly as though God made it for
that very purpose-embracing low, rich,
mucky land for certain garden vegetables and
plants requiring much moisture, handsome
slopes and undulations for fruit trees of every
appropriate sort, and gravelly terraces for
the vine.
  At the date of our visit (Oct. 8th) the ap-
pearance was really beautiful, and kindled
our enthusiasm without a bit of difficulty.
The fruit trees were thrifty and good, and the
vines, though just relieved of the greaterpart
of their rich, purple clusters, were still attract-
ive by the mingled green and russet of their
changing autumn leaves.
  Mr. Atwood was kind enough to detail an
account of how the thing had all been done;
and in some future number we shall make the
information thus gained the batis of an ar-
ticle on practical directions.
   For the present we have only to assert our
 faith in water lots and worthless hill-sides,
 and to urge upon our sleepy, pork-and-potato-
 eating friends-if any such we have-the



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