r-iSS 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May TO, 1826. 



:"the " tmfavor; hie springs" caused the decay in 

 lusstion, why di'i lliey njt produce the same efi'ect 

 jn all his 500 vaiioties, a3 well as on some — (inean- 

 vig the old fruits) who?e ducay had for years been 

 snparent ? Besides, tliis is merely th.- opinion, of 

 ]..p=, a n'irser:/ man wlio with )jis bretUrou of the 

 »-afl, wished s*iil to find a market for their golden 

 j ipnin trees and ot'ier old fruits. 



Phi'l ps's fourth proof. "Mr Knijrl.t of Kinj'.s 

 ro.id, Chelsea, has also favoured us wiUi his oi'lN- 

 iON, w^iich perfectly agrees with that of Mr it o- 

 i.3lds and Mr Lee." 



Puiilips's firti proof. '■ V/e are informed by 

 Thomas Harri.,on, Esq. who roside'l several ye:i.rs 

 i.T Madeira, that there are at this time a consider- 

 able number of the true golden pippin trees grow- 

 i g on the mountains of Madeira, about fourteen 

 miles from the capital of that island, which regu- 

 larly produce abundance of fruit." He adds, that 

 ■prafts sent to England about three yenrs before 

 lie wrot° hi" book, produced fruit the second year, 

 "• aud proved to be the origiyial golden pippin." — 

 lie says further — " These trees are also in a thriv- 

 ing state in several parts of America, as has been 

 nhown by the excellent quality of the fruit lately 

 sent to this country" fKnjland.] He also observ- 

 ed them in several i)arts of Englan-i, ir the summer 

 of 183], in as healthy a state as mos'; other apple 

 trees. — But all these, lilie the two cases he speci- 

 fied, were, doubtless, trained against south walls. 

 'Tl have no r<^ason to believe that any golden pippins 

 v.ere ever sent from Ameri.-a to Engl aid. I never 

 heard tlie no7nc mentioned among f timers in the 

 middle or nortiiern states. I much doubt whetiier 

 tlierc are t-Acnty troldon pippin trees in the United 

 Ptates ; except in the g.irdens, or well sheltered 

 prounds, of a few gc':tiemcn, who spare no expense 

 i;! l-'.o cultivation of f. aits. Besides, the few speci- 

 mens of golden pippins which I ha<?e tssted, were 

 aU sub-acid ; whereas ForsyUi, tVe.'^icribing the true 

 English golden pippin, Bays, '• its juice is vei'y 

 i-ivcet.'" Excellent apples have indeed been sent 

 f^om America to England — particularly the Ae«'- 

 i'jn Pippin ; Vi hich, in my estimation, lias no equal 

 in the United States. That is, tlie genuine New- 

 ton Pippin : for I have seen sjviie varieties called 

 Viy that name, which had no claim to superiority. 



!?uch are the proofs furnished by Mr Pliillips, 

 which are to overwhehn Mr Knight, and tlie sev- 

 eral " infrenious Ensrlish writers" who agree with 

 him. With regard to the Madeira Golden Pippin, 

 if really of the same quality with that of Eng- 

 lind, it does not follow that it was the original 

 ,"olden pippin c^irried from the latter country to 

 Madeira, (for England claims to be the native coun- 

 try of the ffolJen pippin :) on the contrary, it is, 

 j-.robably, like the one tr--^" mentioned by Ronalds, 

 -" of tlie 'robicn pippin hind" — so much like tlie old 

 golden pippin as to receive the same name ; nltho' 

 it mny be a nen- fruit sprung from a seed. And 

 among the infinite number of voriotie.s cf applcf 

 (TTOViny from the seeds, it would be extraordinary 

 if no t'vo should so far resemble eich other as to 

 be railed by tlie same name. 



The ne ,t proof is taken from Mr Co:<e's book on 

 fruit trees, printed in 1817. Referring to the doc- 

 trine in ques'ion, Mr Coxc says — " Writers of tlie 

 highest repi'tiition concur in the opinion, tliat the 

 eyistencr of every variety is limited to a certain 

 jerjod ; no kind of apple .low cultivated h suppos- 

 ^•■J to be inor" thanOOO years old. This term dees 

 rot exceed the nge of a healthy tree. The stire 

 jyiple of iicreford in En^dand is suppp.ied to have 



long passed the zenith of its perfection, and to be 

 rapidly declining there ; yet in the growth and 

 vigour of at least one hundred trees planted in my 

 orchards, there appears to be I'O deficiency : on 

 tlie contrary, they attract the notice of all who see 

 them, for the extraordinary luxuriance as well as 

 the beauty of their gro'.vtli. The soil is a light but 

 rich sandy loam, such as the English writers des- 

 cribe !•■' be.si iidapted to the cultivation of this ap- 

 ple." 



Tliis stateme;!t by Mr Coxc I have no doubt is 

 correct ; but it is not adverse to Mr Knigiit's the- 

 ory. Apple trees wliich, in Herefordshire in Eng- 

 land, in 5'i degrees of i ititude, were approaching 

 the state of decrepitu j from old age, and could 

 no longer be cultivated in I'leir orchards with suc- 

 cess, might live and thrive for a number of years, 

 when transferred to Burlington in New Jersey, 

 twelve degrees farther south, and planted iu the 

 warm sandy loam of Mr Coxe's farm, (such as he 

 describes it, and such as it appeared to me when I 

 formerly walked with him in his orchards) there 

 enjoying the " glorious hot sun" pf the fortieth 

 degree of latitude. The change miist be equiva- 

 lent to tlie removal of the sani j fruit trees from 

 the Ojien orchards of Herefordshiif, to the south 

 wall of Mr Knight's garden in tlie nci;hboi;rhooi. 

 The insular situation of England exempts it from 

 the severe frosts of our winter ; but the want of 

 tlio heat of our summer suns, obliges them to re- 

 sort, at vast expense, to artificial nieaas to ripen 

 delicate fruits. Peaches and nectarines, for in- 

 stance, besides raising them against a south v.all, 

 (thus facing the sun at noon-day) they find it ne- 

 cessary, about t!ie time the fruit is ripened, to " thin 

 away tlie leaves ;" clipping off", at first, the half of 

 each leaf with scissors, and about a iortnight after- 

 wards, the otlier half, to let the sun shine upon the 

 limbs and buds ; v.ithout which the fruit-buds 

 \vould not be so inalnred as to be productive the 

 year follovving."f Every New England farmer 

 will understand the nature of the English climate, 

 when informed, that the sun's heat is not sufiicier.t 

 to ripen Indian Corn. But their winters are so 

 iidld, as to admit of their ploughing their fields, at 

 times, in every winter month. And the " long, 

 though cool and shadowy summers of England," 

 — the growing season, in spring, summer, aud au- 

 tumn, — usually bring their small gr.iins, whent, 

 rye, barley and oats to maturity ; and, from their 

 superior culture, in abundant crops, much surpas- 

 sintr the general products of the same grains in 

 the United States. 



The last witness produced by the E. R. -writer, is 

 a Mr George Bliss, who, having had tons of thou- 

 sands continually under his care, professes to be 

 thoroughly acquainted with the constitution of the 

 apple tree. " He is eonfidint that it is nothing but 

 bad management and ill treatment, v.diich is the 

 cause of the general decay of their apple trees (in 

 England) and principally from v. ant of proper at- 

 tention to the canker." And he says, — "tliis i^ 

 quite evident, from all the new sorts becoming af- 

 fected by it as well as the golden ])ippiri." — 'I'his 

 Mr Bliss, fiom tiie vnst number of trees under his 

 care, must be a nurseryman, and like his brethren 

 of the same craft, interested to make their coun- 

 trymen believe in the pra'^ticability of continuing 

 in a productive st-ite, the old favourite fruits, which 

 they continue in their nurseries. He however ad- 



t'lrealire on thp Culture and Manajinmcnt of Fruit 

 1 re(-s, \y Cbi'-'''£-' Maf'ibon, I'.H. P. a new work, print- 

 ed in 1K23. 



uiits, just what Mr Krnght asserts, " the early de- 

 cay of the golden pippin" — when young trees arc 

 grafted with it ; and that " it is entirely owjnn- to 

 the canker ;" and Mr Knight says it is their most 

 fatal disease. And what is this nurseryman's rem- 

 edy ? " Keep the body of the tree svund, and you 

 may depend on your golden juppins llouriajung as 

 well as ever." As if he had said — Keep your tree 

 from sickness and decay, and it will not be sick 

 nor decay. 



But Mr Bliss says the decay of llieir apple trees 

 in Jingland is owing to bad management ; and af- 

 ter him, the E. H.-v.riter say» the same thing ; — 

 bid pruning — suiiisring the grass to grow about 

 them, iSic. &c. But was the management better 

 fifty aud a hundred years ago, when the good old 

 fruits flourished, than since the establishment of 

 agricultural societies all over England, and the 

 general spirit of iniprovemeiU lias been periadiug 



every department of the farmer and gardener ? 



Incredible.f Besides, wlien Marshall u rote, apples 

 abounded in the cider counties in England — not of 

 tiie far famed favourite sorts of old times — for they 

 were '• run or fast running out" — but of other va- 

 rieties sprung from seeds ; which once in two or 

 three years, when there was a 'diit," so loaded the 

 trees that the farmers with didiculty could find 

 casks enough to hold the liquor. Yet, says Mar- 

 shall, who wrote what he beheld, "It is no uncom- 

 mon sight to see trees iu this district [Hereford- 

 shi"ej with tv.o or three tiers of bou^lis pressing- 

 down hard one upon another ; with their twigs so 

 intimately interwoven, that even iihen the leaves 

 arc off, a small bird can scarcely creep in among 

 them." Nevertheless, MarsJiall says — "it would 

 be difficult to describe the burden, whi.:h many 

 trees, this year [17S8] had to bear. Notwithstand- 

 injr the trees were as full of wood as neglectcould 

 i»Jii>ie«i, eifsry tw ig, within aiid without, \\ as load- 

 ed with fruit. Of trees of luxuriant grofi th, the 

 most upright shoots, even to the .summit, were ren- 

 dered j.endcnt willi the weight of their produce, 

 hanging down on every side like strings of onions ; 

 the fruit appearing, to tlie distant eye, to cover 

 the entire surface of the tree. 



I have nl'-eady said much more on this subject 

 than many readers, perhaps, may think necessary: 

 but the captious ri-marks of the E. R.- writer were 

 uttered with su'h imposing confidence, that a full 



examination oi them appeared to be expedient 



This writer fancies lliRt the common mode of pro- 

 pagating giiosf berries and currants by fuZ/iiic-.' for 

 ages, even from' the time of the Romans, os de- 

 cisive proof tliat Mr Knight's theory is unfounded. 

 But besides that, to gi\o any force to this as an 

 argninent.it believes the writer to prove (which 

 is not only in]>robable, but impassible) ijiat those 

 plants liave never been propagated liy seed — eve- 

 ry person who lias seen a currant or a gooseberry 

 bush, knows that they 'cuitinue themselves by 

 annually sending up from tlieir roots, new shoots 

 (according to Mr Knighl'-s doctrine of the lonjev- 

 ity of roots! to supply the places of their predeces- 

 sors, debilitated by the bearing of a few years : 

 and the hitler sliould be cut away, to make room 

 for the tbrmer. And this suggests a reason for 

 sufiering them to grow in hushes, instead of train- 



■f Marshall in PfiS, said, that in Gloucestershire the 

 foil o( orrliarris was generally in gias : and thai the 

 farinirs, in planting tlnrir trus, carefully replaced tl>e 

 ?ods on the eurrj*re. that no g-r.izing^ grouiul might be 

 left. In 111 Ttford^liire, the s<'il of orchards was gtne- 

 ally under tlllagt. 



