DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



579 



in this way, in keeping down the insects surpris- 

 ingly on my own grounds last season, — catching 

 them so fast, that I was obliged to empty the 

 bottles weekly : the insects accumulated in them 

 rapidly. The bottles should only be lilled half 

 full of the litpiid. Yours, A Novice. New Ha- 

 ven, May 8, 1849. 



[We have received the following graceful and 

 touching " Singing Bird's Petition to the Sports- 

 man," from some young incognita at Philadel- 

 phia:] 



Wouldsl tliou have me fall or fly .' 

 Hear me sing', or see me die ? 

 If thy heart i.s cold and dull, 

 Knowiji-ir nothiu!;: heautiful — 

 If thy proud eye never glows 

 With the light love only knows — 

 If the loss of friend or home, 

 Ne'er liath made life wearisome — 

 If thy cheek lias never known 

 Tears th.tt fall with sorrow's moan — 

 If a hopeless mother's sigh 

 Brings no tear-drop to thine eye. 

 Thou may.st smile to see me diel 



But, if thou can.st love the lay, 

 Welcoming the birth of May — 

 Or summer's song, or autumn's djrge, 

 Cheering wnter's dreary verge — 

 If thou lovest beauty's hues, 

 Decked with light, or gemmed witii dews — 

 If, all meaner thoughts above. 

 Thou canst hope, and trust, and love — 

 If, from all dislionor free, 

 Thou can<t Nature's lover be, — 

 Spare iier minstrel, — pity me I M. 



Philadelphia, May, 1S49. 



Protecting Fruit Trees. — A. J. Downing. 

 Esq.: During the nights of tiie 15th and 16th of 

 April, the thermometer, at this place, fell to 27"". 

 Having a number of pear trees on (juince stocks 

 of such small size that they could be covered or 

 nearly so, with u sheet, and they being then in 

 full blossom, I determined to try to save the fruit 

 by that means, but as there was a light breeze 

 blowing I feared that the flapping of the sheets 

 upon the blossoms might do more harm than tlie 

 frost ; iiowever, I covered part of them and part 

 of those which were left uncovered were syringed 

 with cold water before sunrise the next morning, 

 it being then so cold that the water was immedi- 

 ately converted into a coat of ice on the trees. 

 As the fruit is now fully set, I have just been 

 making the following memorandums which I have 

 thought might prove of interest to some of your 

 readers: 



Duchess D'Angouleme. — Two trees, witii ten 

 or twelve clusters of blossoms each. One was 

 covered by a sheet and the blossoms were unin- 

 jured, except a few on the windward side which 

 the sheet rubbed against. The other was uncov- 

 ered, and the blossoms were all killed. 



St. Michael Archangel. — Two trees, about 

 eight feet liigh, and both completely covered with 

 blossoms. One was unprotected, but was syring- 

 ed before sunrise, and every blossom was killed. 

 The other was covered with a sheet and all the 



blossoms saved, except such as were rubbed by 

 the sheet. 



Louise Bonne de Jersey. — One tree, very full of 

 bloom, was covered with a sheet and all saved. 



Beurre Diel. — One tree, uncovered; a few blos- 

 soms were saved. 



Napoleon. — Six trees, all very full of blossoms, 

 of whicli four were covered, and nearly all the 

 fruit saved on every one, — one was syringed and 

 one left untouched and both lost all their fruit. 



William's Bon Chretien. — Two trees, both en- 

 tirely unprotected and quite full of bloom, but not 

 as far advanced as the others, and both escaped 

 unhurt. 



Eadcr Beurre. — Two trees, both uncovered, 

 but one of them was syringed, and all the fruit 

 was saved on each. 



All the above were on quince stocks. On pear 

 stocks I had no trees that were not too large to 

 be easily covered, but made the following memo- 

 randums: 



Bloodgood. — One tree — literally covered with 

 blossoms, and every one killed. 



St. Ghislain. — One tree — very full of blossoms, 

 almost all of which have set fruit. 



£aster Buerre. — One tree — ten or twelve 

 bunches of blossoms unhurt. 



White Doyenne. — One tree — very full of blos- 

 soms and unhurt. 



I think there is sufficient evidence of the advan- 

 tage of protection, and also, that some kinds re- 

 quire protection much more than others. With 

 dwarf trees, I cannot but think, it would be worth 

 while, certainly for those who have only a few 

 trees, to have tents made of some light stuff which 

 could be stretched over the trees on such nights 

 as the above named, and fastened in such a way 

 as to protect their rubbing against the blossoms. 

 Very truly yours. //. W. S. Cleveland. Oat- 

 lands, Burlington, N. J., May 16, 1849. 



Dear Sir. — Our experience of last winter has 

 disproved the opinion of a writer, in your paper, 

 or tlie Cultivator, that peach blossoms are always 

 killed, wiien the thermometer is 14" below zero. 

 We have had the coldest winter ever known here, 

 and our peach, and all other fruit trees, are in full 

 bloom. On the prairies, from half to two-thirds 

 of the peach blossom buds were killed ; but we 

 shall have a fair crop, if no more frost falls. The 

 trees protected by our blutl's will have as much 

 fruit as they can hold. For days, during the 

 winter, the thermometer was 20° below zero; the 

 preservation of our trees, was probably owing 

 to deep snows, and uniform cold weather. Yours 

 truly, James Grant. Davenport. Iowa, May, 

 1849. 



[We I'car that when the blossoms have fallen, 

 and the young fruit begins to swell, our corres- 

 pondent will find the promise of fruit less than he 

 now anticipates. We entertained similar views 

 this year, when the peach and cherry blossoms ex- 

 panded, but we now think, that the crop of fruit 



