DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



103 



was unripe, but which had fruit two seasons pre- 

 vious, and j)roved so fine that he had propagated 

 it, and Mr. Elliott had named it " Delicate." 



Mr. Elliott being almost daily examining these 

 cherries, with the Doctor by his side, and making 

 his notes, the public may safely count upon having 

 introduced to their notice only such as are really 

 deserving. 



We will only add that the cherry known about 

 Columbus as the'' German May Duke," has been 

 decided by Dr. Kirtland, and also by Mr. Downing, 

 we believe, to be identical with the " Early Purple 

 Guigne" of the books and foreign catalogues. It 

 is one of the very best cherries known, but it is 

 said to be rather hard to propagate. Ohio Cult. 



Effects of Moisture ok Fruits. — Lieut. 

 Maury, of the National Observatory, Wash- 

 ington City, has made a valuable communica- 

 tion to the Southern Planter, on the subject — 

 " How the National Observatory is subserving 

 the interests of the Farmer as well as the Mari- 

 ner" — from which we take the following: 



My investigations show — always supposing 

 the soil be there — that cotton, sugar, coffee, 

 rice and tobacco and indigo, with spices, drugs 

 and balsams of infinite variety and great value 

 may be grown from the mouth of the Amazon 

 all the way up to the base of the Andes — and 

 they point to the valley of tliat river and its 

 tributaries as one of prodigious capacities — 

 of productive capacities as far exceeding those 

 of our great and greatly boasted Mississippi 

 valley, as this exceeds that of the Hudson. The 

 valley of the Amazon is rich, wide and fruitful 

 beyond measure. 



These investigations also indicate what, up- 

 on inquiry I learn is the case: that there is a 

 wet and dry side to the Alleghany Mountains, 

 — that in some parts of the range, the eastern, 

 and in others the western side is the dry side. 

 Good grapes, I am sure, will grow on these dry 

 sides, and it is probable that they would make 

 good wines. 



Wc know how pow^erfuHy the presence of 

 abundant moisture in the atmosphere affects the 

 flavor of our delicate fruits; at certain stages 

 of the crop a few days of rainy weather will 

 destroy the flavor of the strawberrj', the peach, 

 etc. ; and we know that the grape requires sun- 

 shine and dry air to perfect its secretions. 



The finest grapes in the world are grown in 

 the valley of the Caspian sea, where Humboldt 

 tells us the air is so pure that the most finely 

 polished steel may be exposed in the open air 

 for days and days without having its lustre tar- 

 nished. This is but another expression for a 

 low dew-point, or a dry atmosphere. There 

 the evaporation and precipitation , as in our val- 

 ley of the great Salt Lake, are exactly equal. 



Though there may be here and there under 

 the mountains of Georgia, the Carolinas, Vir- 

 ginia, Tennessee, &c., small districts adapted 



to the production of wine, these charts " of the 

 winds and currents of the sea," indicate that 

 there is on this continent a large district, the 

 climate — for I know nothing of soils — of which 

 is admirably adapted to the culture of the grape. 

 That climate is in Northwestern Texas and the 

 regions thereabouts. 



i may be excused from mentioning another 

 discovery with regard to the culture of the 

 peach and other fruits to which I have been led 

 by some experiments with the thermometer on 

 a fleece of wool. 



I procured a bit of tanned sheep skin with the 

 wool on, placed it with the woolly side up, in 

 a bucket as though I intended it for a hen's nest ; 

 I then put a thermometer in it with the bulb 

 in the bottom of the nest; and set it out in the 

 open air. 



This thermometer, of certain clear nights in 

 August, when the thermometer on the outside 

 of the nest and also in the open air stood at 7o°, 

 and when that in the nest during the day had 

 ranged as high as 150°, was found to stand at 

 42°. 



This explained to ine the reason of our find- 

 ing in the low lands and bottoms the earliest 

 signs of frosts in autumn, and the latest in 

 spring. 



These are the places therefore which in clear 

 weather, when radiation is active, are the hot- 

 test in the day and the coolest in the night. 

 And if vou plant the peach there, they will 

 force its blossoms in the day, and nip them with 

 their frosts at night. 



Now, on the hill tops and sides, the weather 

 is cooler in the day, and warmer in the night 

 when radiation is active — consequently the hill 

 tops and sides will not force the buds so soon, 

 nor make frost, nor kill the fruit when the 

 bottoms will ; and therefore the hill tops and 

 sides, not the bottoms, are the jjlaces for or- 

 chards. 



There is a ridge about Washington upon 

 which the peaches seldom fail, when failure is 

 common to orchards planted a short distance 

 from it on either side. 



Travelling last summer through the beautiful 

 valley of Wyoming, I noticed near Wilkesbarre, 

 that with fine mountain ridges close at hand, 

 the apple orchards were all in the river bottoms 

 — the worst possible place for them — and on in- 

 quiry was told — what I knew would be said 

 without asking — that it was a poor fruit country. 



The best fruit-growing height for each dis- 

 trict must be determined by actual experiment ; 

 and I have no doubt if the farmers of Wyoming 

 valley would cut down their fruit trees in the 

 river bottoms, and plant an orchard reaching 

 from near the base to the top of the surround- 

 ing hills, they would discover the best apple 

 growing elevation ; and planting orchards at 

 that pitch, they would probably be rewarded 

 with fine fruit. 



