NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Published by John B. RussEti., it the corner of Congrpss and Li>i<liill Stree^K. — Tuor.-AS C-. FEssEivniiN, Kditnr. 



VOL. IV. 



BOSTON, FiliDAY, MAY 12, 182C;. 



No. 42. 



ORIGINAL PAPEilS. 



of the ajij'le and pear, the fiiiipaut writer in the , 

 Essex Register has pronounced " absurd in itself, '. 

 and ridiculous in its appearance." This forward 

 gentleman, I would presume, does not understand ' 

 Mr. Knight's theory, or he would not misrepre- 1 

 sent it. For the sitisfaction of those of your read- I 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ENGLAND FART-IER. 



DURABILITY OP FRUITS. 

 Having long since been satisfied of the correct- 

 ness of Mr Knight's theory, to account, philosoph- j ers who take au interest in the question, I will 

 ically, for ascertained fads, respecting the Apjile endeavor to state correctly Mr. Knight's ideas, as 



and Pear, I have occasionally, as a caution io j exhibited in his treatise on the apple and pear, — 



farmers, advised them to avoid wasting their time j the only one of his numerous publications which 

 and labour in attempting to continue, by grafting,! have seen. It is his second edition, printed in 

 and buddinof, any viirieties of those fruits which,! 1801. The first appears to have been pablisiied in 

 in the expressive language of some of them, uierc 1797. 



run Old ; or, according to Mr Knight, whers the 

 trees, though still alive, had become decrepit with 



Mr Knight, mentioning the introduction of the 

 rpple into EngU-nd, snys — " I am inclined to think- 



age. When, therefore, I saw the contrary doctrine ! that we are indebted to the industry of the plant- 

 advanced, in a p-ece introduced into your paper ,' ers of the early part of the I7th century, and the 

 from the Essex Register, and confidently urged, j end of the preceding century, for most of those we 

 with an imposing di.ipin;/ of muth reading on the<\dve at present, and probably for all the old fine 

 subject, I thougiit it was proper, and even a duty, i cider fraits. Of these they have left us a sufficient 

 to present to your readers some laets and observa- i surnber ; but the e.ristcnre of every variety of this 

 tions, in support of Mr Knight's theory, — a theory Jri:it, appears to be conjived to a certain period, dur- 

 of which mistaken ideas had been enteTtaineH : oig the earlier pa rt.s of which only, it can be prop- 

 am] of which, therefore, I gave some account. 1 1 i^ated to the advantage of the planter. No kind of 

 then hoped I should not have occasion again to I ipjde now cultivated, appears to have existed more 



to take up my pen on the subject. But the same han two hundred years From the descrip- 



vrit^r i'as recurred to it : and with incre.ised con- ton Parkinson, who wrote in lt)29, has given of 

 fd'vre attempted to overthrow Mr Knight's theory. ' the apples cultivated in his time, it is evident that 

 I'hat th's theory may be better understood, I will j tiose now known by the same names, are different, 

 enter info some details ; the rather, because the ! aid probably new varieties ; and though many of 

 Kssex Register-writer by his partial notices, mis- I tiose mentioned by Evelyn, who wrote between 30 

 r.:'presents Mr Knight's doctvine. I aid 40 years later, still remain, they appear no 



>Subsp<iuently to my former communication, I re- ; bnger to dtserve the attention of tlie planter. — 

 chived from a friend, information concerning Mr The Moil, and its successful rival the Redstreak, 

 Knight ; which, with what is derived from other ] vi*h the Musts and Golden Pippin, are in the last 

 sources, will enable your readers more justly tuj stage of decay, and the Stire and the Foxwhelp arc 

 estimate the value of his statements and opinions, j hastening rapidly after them." 



At nine years of age, he had a decided tasij for Mr Marshall, who wrote his Rural Economy of 

 Horticulture ; and at that early period of life, he Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, about ten years 

 had become an engrafter and inoculator of frait before Mr Knight's publication, expressing what 



trees. Nothing has occurred, during a Imff life, 

 to impair his ability, or his opportunities of culti- 

 viting his favourite pursuit. He is now nearly 

 eighty years of age ; and possessing a large land- 

 ed estate, has enjoyed the means, favourab e to an 

 enlightened mind, of prosecuting his philosjphical 

 inquiries and experiments. These have been nu- 

 merous. His communications of many oi" them 

 were published in the philosophical tran:;actions of 

 the Royal Society. Loudon, in his Encyclopedia of 

 Gardening (a book I have just borrowed) giv3s the 

 titles of upwards of a hundred publications of Mr 

 Knight's, relating to the vegetable kingdom. And 

 that celebrated chemist and philosopher. Sir !Ium- 

 phry Davy, now President of the Royal Society of 

 London, — intending to "connect together, into a 

 general view, the observations of the most euhght- 

 ened philosophers who have studied the physiology 

 [or nature] of vegetation," says of Mr Kniglit that 

 " He is the latest inquirer into these interesting 

 subjects, and his labours have tended most to il- 

 lustrate this part of the economy of nature."* 



Such is the character of the enlightened philos- 

 opher, who has devoted a great portion of a long 

 life in the study of tlie nature of plants, from the 

 largest fruit tree to the humblest garden veffeta 



he saw while residing in that district of country 

 for the purpose of describing the state of its hus- 

 bandry, in all its branches, says, in accordance 

 with Mr Knight, — "Ml the old fruits, which raised 

 the fame of the liquors of this country, are now 

 lost ; or are so far on the decline, as to be deem- 

 ed irrecoverable." He adds — " In Yorkshire [his 

 native county] similar circumstances have taken 

 place : several old fruits, which were productive 

 witliin my recollection, are lost : the stocks can- 

 kered, and the trees would no longer come to bear." 



Again Mr Knight says, " All efforts which have 

 hitherto been made to propagate healthy trees of 

 those varieties which have been long in cultivation, 

 have, I believe, been entirely unsuccessful. The 

 grafts grow well for two or three years, after which 

 they become cankered and mossy, and appear, what 

 I consider them really to be, parts of the bearing 

 branches of old diseased trees." 



Such are the facts, as stated by two distinguish- 

 ed writers, well acquainted, by their personal obser- 

 vation, with the subject of their writings, and sus- 

 taining unquestioned reputations. 



But Mr Knight, before he formed his definitive 

 opinion, anxious to continue the old excellent fruits, 

 and hoping to find a cure for the diseases, and con 



ble, whose theory concerning the limited duration 1 sequent decay, by which they were affected, tried 



* £lemeuts of Agricultural Chemistry, p. 9. 



■ and repeated, during a number of years, but with- 



out successj Tariona ingenious experiments, "on 

 several kinds b^ fruit, but principally the Redstreak 

 and Golden Pippin ; and aa they had formerly 

 grown well in the same soil, he began to suspe t 

 tiiat their diseases arcs; from the debility of age, 

 and would consequently be found incurable. The 

 canker, however, which couslitute.s their most fatal 

 disease, often arises from other causes. It is always 

 found in tiiose varieties which have been long in 

 cultivation; and in these it annually becomes more 

 destructive, aed evidently arises from tlie age of 

 the variety ; but it often appears to be hereditary. 

 A gravelly or wet soil, a cold preceding summer, 

 or a high exposed situation, adds much to its viru- 

 lence." 



" From the result of tliese experiments, (contin- 

 ues Mr Knight) and from the general failure of 

 every attempt to pronagate every old variety of the 

 apple, I think I am justified in the conclusion, that 

 all plants of this species, however propagated from 

 the same stock, partake in some degree ol'the same 

 life, and will a,ttend the progress of that life, in the 

 habits of its youth, its maturity, and its decay ; 

 though they will not be any way aft'ected by any in- 

 cidental injuries the parent tree may sustain after 

 they are detached from it. The roots, however, and 

 the trunk adjoiting them, appear to possess in all 

 trees a greater degree of durability than the bearing 

 branches; havin;^ a power of producing new branch- 

 es wlien the olc ones have been destroyed by ac- 

 cident, or even ly old age : and I have found that 

 grafts taken frtm scions which have sprung out of 

 the trunks of «ld ungrafted apple and pear trees, 

 grew with mich greater luxuriance than those 

 taken, at the jame time, from the extremities of 

 the bearir^ bmnches. The former in their growth 

 assumed the aiopearance of young seGdlinjc stocks, 

 and the shoot&of the pear were, like those, cover- 

 ed with thorns. Those propagated from the bear- 

 ing branches frequently produced fruit the second 

 year, but the others renained long unproductive." 



Other grafts, Mr Knight says, which were taken 

 from shoots out of the Wge boughs of the pear 

 'ree, between the trunk an! the bearing branches, 

 partook of the character of the foregoing kinds, 

 producing a much smaller quantity of thorns than 

 the one, but not being entirely free from them like 

 the otlier. Whence he naturally infers, " that 

 there is a progressive change from the roots to 

 the extremities of the bearing branches, and prob- 

 ably an increasing tendency to decay : for the life 

 of every tree is known to be greatly prolonged, 

 when its branches are frequently taken off, and it 

 is compelled to make use of tlie reserved buds w ith 

 which nature has provided it: and I have not the 

 least doubt but that in the culture of the apple and 

 pear, the life of each original tree might be pro- 

 longed to three times its natural- period, by robbing 

 it of its branches, as soon as the qualities of its 

 fruit were known, and retaining it as a pollard,* 

 or more properly in the state of the stools in a 

 coppice, which is filled at regular periods." .... 

 " Should any valuable variety of the apple be re- 

 tained in the state I have described [that is, grow- 



[» In England, those trtes are called Pollards, who=e 

 branches are all cut <iS', frr^m time to time ; new 

 branches, forming new tops, following; each cutting: a 

 common practice with willow treesjin our own couutry .} 



