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Derby, George Horatio, 1823-1861 [1865], The Squibob papers. (Carleton, New York) [word count] [eaf548T].

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IV. PHŒNIX ON AGRICULTURE.

[figure description] Page 053.[end figure description]

San Francisco, Feb'y 7, 1856.
Col. J. L. Warren, Sec. Cal. State Ag. Society:

My Dear Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge
the receipt, this day, of your very polite and flattering
invitation (dated Aug. 25, 1855,) to deliver
a poem of my own composition before the Annual
meeting of the State Agricultural Society, in
September last. Though somewhat diffident regarding
my powers in the poetical line, (feeling
in fact very much like the Irishman immortalized
by Miller, who when asked if he could play upon
the fiddle, replied that “he presumed he could,'
though he had never tried,”) I shall accept the
invitation, and shall endeavor to discharge the duty
devolving upon me to the best of my ability.
You do me more than justice in supposing that I
take a strong interest in the newly developed resources
of our glorious State, in an agricultural

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point of view; and I have in fact, as you may be
aware, devoted some little time to the pleasing
science of horticulture in my endeavors to show
up the greens of California.

I see nothing to regret in the arrival of your
invitation, it gives me sufficient time to prepare,
and I doubt not, that by the return of last September
I shall be able to present to the Society a
poem that will be among poems, what Niagara is
among cataracts, or Oregon among civilized nations.

I already begin to feel a grand agricultural, floral
horticultural, and pomological poetic fervor stealing
over me, under the influence of which, I have
without much effort composed the following admirable
lines as a beginning:

Here's to the land of potatoes and carrots,
Whose banks grow wild, rich bacon and parrots;
Where each apple and pear a dollar apiece is,
And a man may devour just as much as he pleases;
(Spoken — If he's the money to pay for them.)
Where the soil is teeming with vegetable treasures,
And a pumpkin ten feet in circumference measures;
Where to root up a turnip, an ox team employed is;

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By each laborer a very large salary enjoyed is;
(Play on the word celery.)
And kind Colonel Warren, with interest watches
The growth of his parsley and marrowfat squashes,
And stirs up the farmers, and gives them rules of action, and
incentives to exertion, and constantly teaches,
How they ought not to let Oregon get ahead of them but establish
nurseries at once where they could raise at very trifling
expense, all kinds of grafted fruit, pears and apples, and cherries
and the most delicious peaches, &c., &c., &c.

That last line seems a little exuberant, probably
it results from the rich nature of the soil, but
there is plenty of time to apply the pruning knife.
Thanking you heartily for your kindness and presenting
my compliments to the Society, to whom I
beg you will communicate my acceptance of their
polite invitation,

I remain,
With great respect and esteem
Your friend and ob't serv't.
Squibob:

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p548-079
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Derby, George Horatio, 1823-1861 [1865], The Squibob papers. (Carleton, New York) [word count] [eaf548T].