DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



245 



greater moisture always present there. This is 

 an interestin<T question, and its sohition will re- 

 quire many experiments similar iu character to 

 those published during the present year by that 

 fast friend of science, Lieutenant Maury, of the 

 navy. The committee have thou<Tlit the following 

 experiment, though not conducted with a view to 

 that end, calculated to shed liglit on this subject. 

 On the 14th and 15th of April, 1850, at night, 

 the merciuy, in open air, sunk to 26° above zero, 

 and every unprotected open fruit blossom was 

 killed J but at the same time a fruit tree in full 

 bloom, surrounded by artificial heat, with a self- 

 registering night thermometer in its branches 

 ■which never sunk lower than 29°, saved all its 

 fruit alive ; thus showing the difference between 

 safety and destruction not to exceed 3°. Again, 

 the same observer, the author of the topographical 

 survey, on the 2d of April, 1849, had one ther- 

 niomeler on tiie high portion of his orchard grounds 

 and another in the bottom thirty-five feet lower. 

 At 1 A. M., he found the thermometer in the bot- 

 tom at 28°, and, being surprised to see that on 

 the hills 33°, changed their position, but was soon 

 convinced that there was a difierence in tempera- 

 ture between the two points of five degree^, which, 

 on the 14th and 15tli of April last, would have 

 been more than a killing diirerencc. An ack- 

 nowledged ignorance, both of the intrinsic value 

 and time of ripening in respect to many peaches, 

 pears, and pliuiis now in cultivation, forbids anv 

 attempt on the part of the committee to offer a 

 list for general cultivation, or to propose a rejected 

 list; and they would further remark that, although 

 the statements herein set forth are more particu- 

 larly applicable to stone fruits, it is only because 

 their comparatively tender habits render them 

 more frequently a prey to ever existing causes 

 than the hardier apple and pear. The latter fruits 

 are by no means harm proof. 



In regard to preventives against the assault of 

 the eurculio upon smooth fruits the, committee 

 feel called on to state a few facts aud experi- 

 ments. Several cultivators have this year tried 

 dusted lime, upon Mr. Young's plan; others trying 

 with v^hitewash. Whitewashing fails to cover the 

 young fruits, and seems to be inefTicicnt, and, for 

 this season, dusted lime has not given the same 

 satisfaction as for the two previous years. At 

 present the committee are inclined to think failiue 

 (which was only in part,) attributable to errone- 

 ous impressions as to the stay of the eurculio 

 rather than to any want of virtue in powdered 

 lime. Several experimenters testify to the sound- 

 ness and beauty of their fruits so long as the 

 limings were kept up; but that the eurculio, in- 

 stead of disappearing at the end of a month, as 

 usual, prolonged its stay and afterward wholly de- 

 stroyed some crops and greatly injured most others 

 treated with lime. All of which is respectfully 

 submitted. L. Young, Chairman State Fruit 

 Covimittee for Kentucky. 



Mass. Annual HoRTicuLTirRAL Exhibition. — 

 The exhibition opened on Tuesday at the rooms of 

 the Mass. Horticultural Society, in School-street, 

 and we can promise our readers that the display 

 was unusually rich, — the specimens of fruit and 

 vegetables surpassing in beauty of appearance, 

 and number of varieties, those exhibited in any 

 preceding year. The decorations of the Hall — 

 fioral and evergreen — are in good taste, and the 

 arrangements for the best display of Nature's rich- 

 est productions, are highly appropriate and suc- 

 cessful. The hall above, usually devoted to exhi- 

 bitions, is exclusively appropriated to flowers and 

 pears. But the pears constitute by far the most 

 interesting object of the exhibition, embracing 

 glorious specimens of all kinds which are known 

 to cultivators in New England, and many new va- 

 rieties recently introduced from abroad. 



It is, of course, impossible for us to give even a 

 sketch of the varieties and character of the various 

 pears exhibited, or even a list of tiie contributors, 

 whose name is Legion, and among the most prom- 

 inent of whom we find the names of Wilder, 

 Walker, Winship, Brcck &. Co.. Hovey, Gordon, 

 Manning, Williams, Cabot, and Lovett. The 

 nimiber of varieties of pears exhibited hy Col. 

 Wilder, was upwards of two hundred, and some of 

 tlie specimens were remarkably fine — especially a 

 dish of the somewhat celebrated pear, Van Mons 

 Leon le Clerc, whose size and beauty nutst <:on\- 

 mand universal admiration. Col. Wilder exhibits 

 .several new varieties, whose merit has not yet 

 been tested — and among them we saw the West- 

 cott, a native pear, from Rhode Island, we believe, 

 of high rejiutation, but hitherto unknown here. 



Among the finest specimens of pears exhibited, 

 were some of the Swan's Orange, by Hovey & Co., 

 a large and find looking pear; some of the Seckel, 

 and Bcurre Bosc, from Mr. Driver, of Salem; 

 Beurre Bosc and Vicar of Winkfield, from Mr. 

 Gordon of Brighton; Louise Bonne de Jersey, 

 very large, from Mr. Baldwin of Brighton; An- 

 drews, (magnificent) from Mr. Crafts of Iloxbiuy; 

 the Nouvelle Boussock, from Mr. Washburn oi 

 Plymouth; Flemish Beauty, from J. W. Rogers 

 of Jamaica Plains; Columbia, from A. D. Wil- 

 liams k Son, Roxbury; Beurre Diel, (very large) 

 from Mr. Bacon of Roxbuiy; Flemish Beauty and 

 Beurre D'Anialis. and Urbaniste, from Mr. Lovett 

 of Beverly ; Flemisii Beauty from J. W. Rogers, Ja- 

 maica Plains, Beurre D'Amalis, Gil-O-Gil, and 

 Louise Bonne de Jersey, from Mr. Joimson i^f 

 Lynn; Seckel from Mrs. Dudley of Roxbury; 

 Cliaumontel, a fine old French variety, from Breek 

 & Co., Brighton ; Figue, Winter Nelis, and Co- 

 lumbian, froiu Mr. Cabot of Salem. Mr. Cabot 

 exhibited eighty-five varieties. A dish of Bartlett 

 pears, well and carefully ripened, of a beautiful 

 clear golden color, from Mr. Raymond of Cam- 

 bridge, are worthy of particular attention, — also, 

 some good specimens of Bartlett grown, on an ap- 

 ple tree, from Wm. J. Niles of West Cambridge. 



