300 



Fruit and Vegetables. 



Vol. IV. 



old Boerhaavian style, error loci, or extrava- 

 sation takes place ; the eruption puts on the 

 form of discolorations, scabs and blotches, 

 on the stalks of grain, called rust: and, to 

 use another old-fashioned term, the vegeta- 

 ble, like the animal body, has caught cold, 

 and produced an eruption — a case common 

 to both — and it is in course of nature for this 

 eruption in both cases, to give birth to pc 

 diculi or unimalculse. These insects inter- 

 cept, exhaust, and vitiate the juices of the 

 plants, as does also the scabies, fungus or 

 parasite, whence the ears, deprived of nour- 

 ishment, are not filled, and even if filled, and 

 the kernels perfect, they almost immediately 

 degenerate into an atrophy or consumption, 

 the crop decreasing in a frightful degree, and 

 the sample rising lean, steely, discoloured, 

 cold in hand, and of a musty swell. There 

 is sometimes, necessarily, a complication of 

 blight and mildew, and a coincidence in 'the 

 phenomena or effects which are common to 

 both ; but the wet mildew may be far more 

 calamitous and fatal than any other disease, 

 from its universality, whereas it is the nature 

 of blight and smut to he partial in their ef- 

 fects. The mildew prevailed to a most un- 

 fortunate extent in Scotland in the year 1799, 

 when, according to my memorandums, we 

 had incessant and cold rains for full tJiirteen 

 weeks'.''^ — Lawrence'' s Neio Farmers^ Calen- 

 dar. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Fruit and Vegetables. 



That upon which we feed has an important influence 

 on the disposition and character. 



Mr. Editor: — 



Travellers inform us that there is no part 

 of the world in which the inhabitants con- 

 sume so much animal food as in the United 

 States, if we except the Esquimaux and 

 other northern Indians, who live mostly on 

 blubber, bears' grease, and fish. It is ob- 

 served, that as nations become more civilized 

 and refined, and as the arts and sciences 

 become more extended and improved, and 

 particularly as improvements are made in 

 agriculture and horticulture, the consumption 

 of animal food diminishes, and that vegetable 

 increases. The eating of large quantities 

 of animal food in warm climates, or in warm 

 weather, is admitted by medical men to be 

 decidedly prejudicial to health and longevity ; 

 and hence, those who desire to protect them- 

 selves from inflammatory diseases siiouid 

 resort to a regimen, consisting of a large 

 proportion of vegetable food. In the neiorh- 

 bourhood of our large commercial cities, in the 

 eastern section of the United States, for twenty 

 or thirty years past, great efiorts have been 

 made by industrious and intelligent garden- 



ers, and horticulturists, to improve the quality, 

 to increase the variety, and enlarge the quan- 

 tity of the vegetables and fruits which con- 

 stitute part of the food of the inhabitants. 

 In this respect they have been eminently 

 successful, both in promoting their own and 

 the public interests : for rt is supposed, that 

 at the present time there is full one-third 

 more vegetable food eaten in proportion to 

 the population, than there was twenty years 

 ago, and consequent!)', there is a proportion- 

 ate diminution in the consumption of animal 

 food ; at the same time saving expense, and 

 promoting the health of the inhabitants. 

 Gardening, in the neighbourhood of large 

 cities and towns, has long since become a 

 very interesting and profitable trade, giving 

 rise to extensive competition, and, conse- 

 quently, stimulating those engaged in it to 

 adopt all the most approved modes of rearing", 

 forwarding, and preserving, the most profit- 

 able and useful vegetables. It has, therefore, 

 become a matter of vast importance for gar- 

 deners to be able to introduce the products 

 of their industry into the market at as early 

 a period in the season as possible, so as to 

 obtain the highest prices for them ; ten days 

 or two weeks difference in the time making^ 

 a large difference in the year's profits. The 

 expedition of transport furnished by steam- 

 boats and rail-roads has enabled those who 

 have suitable locations for gardens and truck- 

 patches at a distance, to avail themselves of 

 the advantages of disposing of their produce 

 at prices which brings them into a fair com- 

 petition with those M'ho are situated near the 

 cities of Philadelphia and New York. 



The middle and lower parts of the state 

 of Delaware, near to or on navigable streams, 

 appear to possess advantages admirably 

 adapted to the purposes of cultivating fruits 

 and vegetables for the Philadelphia and more 

 eastern markets. The soil is light and warm, 

 and the climate several weeks earlier than 

 that in the neighbonrhood of the city; be- 

 sides which, the country is underlayed with 

 strata of the best green-sand marl, of the 

 same character as that which has been so 

 extensively used for enriching the soil in 

 New Jersey. A steam-boat has been run- 

 ning during the last season from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Smyrna and Dover to the city; 

 and if the articles for transportation were 

 increased, boats would increase in due pro- 

 portion. 



The neighbourhood alluded to appears to 

 possess greater advantages for the enterprise 

 of the horticulturist, than any other region 

 connected with the city, and it is understood 

 that there are persons owning sites suitable 

 for the purpose, who design to avail them- 

 selves of their natural advantages by culti- 

 vating fruit and vegetables for the city market 



