NOVEL HORTICULTURE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 153, 26 June 1878, Page 4

NOVEL HORTICULTURE.

Elder Evans is the chief apostle of the Shiikers — a sect whose leading article of faith are the duty of shaking and of selling garden-seeds. The Shakers also believe in mapie sugar and practise apple-sauce, though these two doctrines are not expressly mentioned in their written creed. As they, like the Quakers, are non-resistants, and advocates of universal peace, they wisely abstain from marriage. Were it not for the fact that the sun-bonnets of (heir women have a most depressing effdef, — in some esses causing the beholder to feel that he does not want to live aoy longer in a world where such bonnets are liable to occur — the Shakers might be regarded as a harmless col o '-tion of flrab lunatics. E!der Evans has departed from the ways of his . predecessors, by becoming an inventor. He has invented a raethol of combining Shakers and trees which promises excellent results. Wnen a Shuker dies and is buried, iClder Evans plants a tree over him, and that, .tree, as it gradually absorbs (he deceased Shaker, puts on drab leaves and bears apples, pears, or peaches, as the case may be, characterised by a sort of neutral flavour which is recognised as peculiarly Shakerian. The ingenious elder has now a large orchard full of dead brothers and sisters, under whose 1 shade he walks on summer afternoons, and whose fruit he tastes on winter evenings. Occasionally a aiater preserves her original tartness wben transformed into apples, and it is said that .one young Shakerees, who died four years ago, is extensively sold in the shape of canned peaches of unusual sweetness; but as a rule, the dead Shaker of either sex is too tasteless for apple sauce or preserves, and is ground up for cider. It is evident that Elder Evans's method of modifyioe the character of fruit trees is capable of very wide application, and that when persons of strongly marked character a«e planted, instead of colorless'shakere, valuable results may be obtained. There are many men for whom no nse has ever been hitherto suggested who might prove of inestimable value to the scientific farmer. There is Mr Stanley Matthews, for example. Wera Mr Matthews to be crossed with a winter quash .we should have a vegetable which, though perhaps less nourishing than the ordinary quash, would be much softer, and more nearly resembling custard. There also is Mr D&vid Davis. If we should plant him in a cabbage field, the revolting Daviss-cabbage would doubtless be of an enormous size, and of a beautiful changeable colour when viewed in the 'sunlight. Enterprising nurserymen and kitchen - gardeners, should they adopt the neweystem pf horticulture, would be constantly in the market bidding high prices fqr eminent " remains " wherewith to experiment. Gen. Butler-— -not the administrative senator, but the Mass achussetts representative — would be eagerly sought after by the cultivators of horse radish, into which he would unquestionably infuse a sharpness antf acridity far surpasing that of the present variety. The " Sfteet Singer of. Michigan," if planted early in the spring— 'and the earlier the better— -in a hotrbed sown with lettuce seed,, would infallible give us a variety of lettuce greener and more tender than anything now oh earth. If there is any desire for a variety of red, blue, and'yellow morning glory, with extraordinary abilities for climbing the highest walls and thrusting itself into the most private windows, let the astute florist' keep a close watch upon Mr Talmage, and plant him at the earliest possible moment, and if there is a market for peonies of extra size and unprecedented tednees, it may bje ultimately supplied with a newßeecher peony. — New York Times,