STATEN ISLAND, September 14, 1843.
DEAR FRIEND,--Miss Fuller will tell you the news from these parts, so
I will only devote these few moments to what she does n't know as
well. I was absent only one day and night from the island, the family
expecting me back immediately. I was to earn a certain sum before
winter, and thought it worth the while to try various experiments. I
carried _The Agriculturist_ about the city, and up as far as
Manhattanville, and called at the Croton Reservoir, where, indeed,
they did not want any Agriculturists, but paid well enough in their
way.
Literature comes to a poor market here; and even the little that I
write is more than will sell. I have tried _The Dem. Review_, _The New
Mirror_, and _Brother Jonathan_.[32] The last two, as well as the _New
World_, are overwhelmed with contributions which cost nothing, and are
worth no more. _The Knickerbocker_ is too poor, and only _The Ladies'
Companion_ pays. O'Sullivan is printing the manuscript I sent him some
time ago, having objected only to my want of sympathy with the
Committee.
I doubt if you have made more corrections in my manuscript than I
should have done ere this, though they may be better; but I am glad
you have taken any pains with it. I have not prepared any translations
for the _Dial_, supposing there would be no room, though it is the
only place for them.
I have been seeing men during these days, and trying experiments upon
trees; have inserted three or four hundred buds (quite a Buddhist, one
might say). Books I have access to through your brother and Mr.
McKean, and have read a good deal. Quarles's "Divine Poems" as well as
"Emblems" are quite a discovery.
I am very sorry Mrs. Emerson is so sick. Remember me to her and to
your mother. I like to think of your living on the banks of the Mill
Brook, in the midst of the garden with all its weeds; for what are
botanical distinctions at this distance?