242 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



I got of Mr. Bement, of Albany, New York, a 

 pair of Berkshire pigs. They did not come up lo 

 niy expectation; their descendants were Btill 

 worse; and, supposing they were in a stale of 

 degeneracy, from breeding in-and-in too closely, 

 I determined to give them a cross, which was 

 done with the following family of Berkshires.— 

 (New York Cultivator, vol. 5, page 138.) 



Berkshire ;jtgs.— Messrs. Brenlnall, of Canter- 

 bury, Orange, who have a stock of these pigs, 

 from original importation, cite the following as the 

 weights to which they have attained, at the ages 

 noted: one, under two years qld, v^eighed 652 

 lbs., one four years old, 702 lbs., one three years 

 old 780 lbs., two eighteen months old 432 and 

 4321 lbs.," &c. The animals of this cross arc 

 now nearly grown, and are better than the Be- 

 ment was, but nothing to justify what has been 

 published in this country respecting the breed. 



\Zth Division of qmries.—^^ Miscellaneous obser- 

 vations and statements of any thing of interest, 

 not included in any query.'''' 



Under this division I will make &oroc remarks en 

 fruils, &c., without any anangement of matter, and 

 confine them to apples, pears, peaches and grapes. 

 The number of different varieties of fruits now of- 

 fered for sale in the United States is very great— of 

 apples, pears, peaches and grapes, several hun- 

 dred varieties. When such vast numbers are to be 

 disposed of to inexperienced farmers, and scatter- 

 ed over the country, it is much to be regretted, 

 there are but few which are of superior quality ; 

 and a I'ew of these, judiciously selected, would 

 supply the wants of a private family. Our ap- 

 ples and peaches are mostly of those kinds cul- 

 tivated by our fathers, for the purpose of making 

 spirits for market, which was common in those 

 days. Our orchards at present have an unsightly 

 appearance. The influence of the temperance 

 society is very injurious to orchards. It is always 

 on the ebb or flood ; one year the caterpillars 

 are suffered to eat up the orchard ; another, the 

 orchard is trimmed up and worked ; one year the 

 stills are pulled down ; another, they are rebuih, 

 'and the harvest gathered in with a shout. To 

 avoid the too common error of the world, of tell- 

 ing others what they ought to do, and doing no- 

 thing themselves, [ will tell what I have done, 

 andihe errors and difficulties I have had to en- 

 counter, that others may avoid them. In early 

 iiie I purchased the plantation on which I now 

 hve. It had been held lor a number of years as 

 a life estate, and many parts tenanted out ; and 

 was just such a place as one would have expect- 

 ed to see. Some half a dozen apple trees, and a 

 few old peach trees above the reach of cows, 

 were nearly all the fruit trees upon the farm. 

 Wishing a good orchard, I purchased 300 apple 

 trees, of an individual in this part of the country, 

 and planted them out. Shortly after which I pur- 

 chased an excellent treatise on fruit trees, that 

 had juet been published, by Mr. Coxe of Burling- 

 ton, New Jersey, with descriptions of the finest 

 varieties of fruits, illustrated by cuts of tv^o hun- 

 dred varieties, of the natural size ; and having 

 moved from that part of the farm where 1 had 

 planted the first orchard, to a more central one, 

 1 determined to plant another orchard, and to 



give the trees of the first one away. The second 

 orchard was planted of the finest varieties of ap- 

 ples recommended by Coxe, and all the trees ob- 

 tained from New York, with the exception of 

 some few kinds we had in the neighborhood. At 

 this time I had a farm some few miles from 

 me, on which there was an apple orchard that 

 had been in bearing a few years. 1 determined 

 lo grail it with some of the finest varieties 1 had 

 just got from the north. For thai purpose, I had 

 about half of the large limbs cut o(f a little ways 

 from the body, near the first fork of limbs. The 

 other limbs were left to keep the trees alive, 

 that part of the limb left that was off, that had 

 water sprouts, was then grafted. And those that 

 had no sprouts were left to throw them out, to be 

 grafted the ensuing spring; the other large limba 

 feft were the ensuing spring cut ofl' and grafted 

 in like manner. The grails that lived, had a 

 split or piece of bark tied around to know them ; 

 and as they grew, the water sprouts were trim- 

 med to give room. The grails inserted bore a_ 

 little the second year, and in five years they bore 

 a good deal, and the tops of the trees looked large 

 and fine. But some of ihe irees were very much 

 injured by culling ihe large limb^ loo near the 

 body ; decay extended from the cut through the 

 limbs 10 the body. Limbs, in proportion to their 

 size, should be cut farther from the body, large 

 limbs several feet, and tar should be rubbed on 

 the end of the limbs. It in a great degree prevents 

 decay, but too much is an injflry ; it runs down 

 on the bark in hot weather and scalds the bark. 

 After the trees had come to bear a few years, 1 

 Ibund most of the varieties did not suit this |)art of 

 the country, and had lo regraft nearly all ray 

 young orchard, one half of which was planted 

 of the'green Newtown pippin. This has long been 

 considered the finest winter apple known. It bore 

 well with rac, but about the lime of ripening 

 nearly all would speck and rot on the tree. Some 

 of the other kinds were no belter. The following 

 kinds I preler ; they have been bearing with me 

 for many years ; I will name them in the order 

 they ripen. June-eating, Prince's harvest, a 

 small yellow apple, summer pearnaain, yellow 

 bellflower, and Carthouse. 



Jmie- eating.— Th'is is the earliest apple of our 

 country : size small, form flat, color yellow, flavor 

 pleasant, the skin of an oily leel. 



Prince's harvest.— Kho\i\. two or three times as 

 large as ihe June-eating, and something of the 

 same form and color ; fine to cook, but not good 

 much in other respects. 



A small yellow apple.— A seedling of this neigh- 

 borhood, the size of a common crab apple; the 

 form flat, flesh remarkably tender, rich and of de- 

 lightful flavor, and an excellent fruit to cook. It 

 bears'only every other year, then abundantly ; it 

 ripens slowly. It is to be regretted that such an 

 excellent apple should be so small, and to bear 

 only every other year. - 



Summer pearmain. This is one of the very 

 finest summer apples of our country ; the size 

 large, with us much larger than the cut in Coxe's 

 Treatise on Fruit Trees. The color a reddish 

 yellow, with streaks and spots of deep red; 

 juicy until loo ripe ; the flesh very tender. It fre- 

 quently cracks open on the tree and bursts from its 

 own weight in falling. It is a fine apple to eat 

 or to cook ; it is li:ee from rolling ; ripens slowly 



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