DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



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DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



HoRTiCTJLTtrRAL NoTES. — The Pratt Pear was 

 first brought into notice, by Owen Mason, Esq., 

 of Providence, R. I. He obtained scions from the 

 original tree, now standing in Scituate, R. I., and 

 ilistributed them among his friends, in the spring 

 of 1844. 



Seedling pear trees, five months old, sometimes 

 die of blight, in all respects similar to the "Fro- 

 zen-sap blight." [The loss of seedling pear trees, 

 so common the first winter, from the seed bud — 

 especially if thrifty and full of sap, is owing to 

 this blight, and there is no hardy tree, we are con- 

 vinced, so tender and susceptible to cold, in its 

 bark, as the pear. — Ed.] 



I have lost many pear trees by heading down 

 close in the spring. The tree appears to flourish 

 the first season thereafter,but frequently dies in the 

 spring succeeding. My practice, in heading back 

 for grafting large trees, is to alter only a part of 

 the tree each year, and never to remove any of the 

 suckers, ["robbers," i. e- shoots thrown out below 

 the graft — Ed.] the same year that they are thrown 

 out. When the latter practice is followed, it is al- 

 most sure death to the tree. I always commence 

 altering a tree, of any kind, at the top and centre 

 of its head, leaving the lowest branches for the last 

 year's operation. If the lower limbs are grafted 

 first, the centre is thrown up still higher, and the 

 tree is not disposed to form a round spreading top. 



In certain localities there are worn out or de- 

 cayed varieties of fruit. No cultivation, however 

 high, can, I think, restore them; time may: the 

 cause of failure being unknown. There are large 

 trees of the White Doyenne and St. Germain pears 

 in New England, with their tops grafted with the 

 Barllett, which produce large, fair, perfect fruit; 

 while the lower branches, not re-grafted, produce 

 worthless fruit. How can this be accounted for, 

 and what has cultivation or neglect to do with ei- 

 ther, that could not equally aifect both? 



[We conceive it to be accounted for in this way. 

 The White Doyenne, once healthy and thrifty, in 

 R. I., has probabl}^ exhausted from the soil, some 

 element necessary to its vigor, and it no longer 

 makes the strong and vigorous shoots and foliage, 

 80 necessary to the perfecting of fine fruit. Ry 

 grafting the head of such a tree with the Bartlctt, 

 one of the most vigorous and hardy of all pears; 

 this latter variety being able to make luxuriant 

 growth and produce lar '-e leaves, on the most in- 

 different stock, of course matures perfect fruit on 

 its own strong shoots, while it can exercise little or 

 no influence on the remaining ungrafted branches 

 of the tree. — Ed.] 



In seeding down a lawn. Red-top and White 

 Clover, -have been often recommended. Red-top, 

 such as is sold by seedsmen in New-England, has 

 no aftei growth, when cut forhaj'; while clover 

 is uncertain in its growth, but beautiful when in 

 perfection. 



Bent grass, Rhode Island Bent, Improved Rhode 



Island Red-top, or Borden^s grass, known to seeds- 

 men in New-England, by these names, having the 

 appearance of Red-top, but much smaller, is of all 

 grass best suited to a lawn in the northern states. 

 [This is what is called Red-top in this state. Ed.] 

 It is short, thick, and fine, and it endures for years. 

 All our natural pastures stock themselves with it, 

 together with the sweet-scented vernal grass, which, 

 "as often as it is new mown, sends forth a sweet 

 and healthful odor." 



I give the following select list of apples : 



1. Rhode Island Greening: first for health of 

 tree, bearing, keeping and cooking. 



2. Baldwin : good for bearing, table and keep- 

 ing. 



3. Roxbury Russet : good for bearing and keep- 

 ing. 



All the winter apples raised in New-England, 

 are not collectively, worth as much as the above 

 three kinds. I have grown and tested one hundred 

 and fifty kinds, and am brought to this result. 

 Very respectfully yours, Stephen H. Smith. Smith, 

 field, R. jr., Feb. 8, 1847. 



A LETTER FROM Mr. Longworth Dear Sir •" 



I very willingly send you some information in re- 

 lation to the manner in which I cultivate the Cac- 

 tus, of which you have heard, from those who 

 have seen my plants,such favorable accounts. The 

 Cactus is iny favorite plant, and I cultivate a great 

 variety. When I began, I cultivated both them,antl 

 the Hoya carnosa, " secundem artem," as directed 

 by English writers. The result was, in five or six 

 years, a plant of the Cactus grandiflora, would be two 

 or three feet high, and bear from one to three blos- 

 soms. The Hoya would scarcely attain the same 

 size. They were planted in tubs and pots, with a 

 plentiful admixture of "lime rubbish," "brick 

 dust," &c., according to the stereotyiuul formulas; 

 and treated worse than our temperance folks,for they 

 are allowed a plenty of water at all times. I now 

 plant them in rich soil, and wh»n in a growing 

 state, give them a liberal supply of water. They 

 now grow more in one season, than they did previ- 

 ously in six. In a tub, a single plant of the Cactus 

 grandiflora, in my collection, last season, had/or- 

 ty-two blossoms open at a time,a-nd blossomed several 

 evenings through the season. The Wax-plant, or 

 Hoya, now runs in three or four seasons, twenty 

 feet, and produces flowers in abundance. These 

 are facts. 



But we are descendants of your eastern pilgrims, 

 and possessed of their habits, anil occasionally en- 

 large a little. I fear this is the case, in our ac- 

 counts of the yearly produce of our vineyards. I 

 believe it is placed at "four hunilred or five hun- 

 dred gallons to the acre," for which, read two 

 hundred. Rut this is not as far from the truth, as 

 a recent account of the grass crop in Scotland. My 

 memory does not serve me, whetlier it was nine, or 

 fourteen crops in a season. Nor is it so marvelous, 



