would gladly have sold at almost any price, voluntarily paying therefor a sum far exceeding what they would have dreamed of asking; and this he did because, expecting them to appreciate greatly in his hands, he would not that they should become dissatisfied with the sale, and regard him as one who had enriched himself at their expense. Many acres of laud thus purchased, were prepared with considerable cost, and planted with this beautiful berry. But the cranberry crop is an uncertain, and a somewhat capricious one. The plant requires for its profitable cultivation, not only a congenial soil and favorable meteorological conditions, but also a resident and experienced proprietor; and whatever the future may have in reserve, the hopes which he entertained have not yet been realized. Perhaps the cautionary adage, ne sutor ultra crepidam, is destined to receive still further confirmation by his example![1] In arboriculture also, he claimed to have made some discoveries, and he wrote several papers to prove that the non-productiveness of fruit trees was often owing to the lack of alkaline ingredients in the exhausted soil. He accordingly found that by digging trenches around the trees and applying wood-ashes liberally to their roots, the vigorous became more prolific, and those that were sickly, and apparently even dying, recovered and brought forth plentifully. Where ashes are not procurable, he suggests artificial compounds containing soda, etc. There can be no question of the utility of such fertilizers; they would be particularly useful in the sandy soil of New Jersey; but the idea is not original, though the application was
- ↑ It was a favorite saying of Sir Walter Scott—of the truth of which he was himself a memorable example—that the wisest of mankind often reserve the average stock of folly to be all expended upon some flagrant absurdity.
