NEW ENGLAND F.AliMEli. 



Published by Jouy B. Russf.li., at llie corner c," Congress and Lindall Streets. — Tiio'm\s G. PiBSSENriEN, Editor. 



VOL. IV. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1826. 



NO. 47. 



ORIGINAL PAPERS. 



TO THE BDITOR OF THE ^EW E.NGLA.ND FAR9IER. 



GRASSES. 



Mr Fessenden — In your last paper (No. 46,) in 

 the essay No. U. of Examinfr on grasses, he in 

 troduced Dr Eliot's description of the Fold Mead 

 ow grass which he had sow n on his drained swamp: 

 and comparing it with Dr Richardson's account of 

 his Fiorin, Examiner remarked, that the latter ex- 

 hibited a strong likeness to the Fowl Meadow ; 

 meaning that Fowl Meadow grass which had been 

 cultivated by Dr Eliot. In reference to this re- 

 mark you say, in a note, " The Fiorin we should 

 believe cannot have much resemblance to our Fowl 

 Meadow ; for one is a creeping, and the other an 

 upright plant." If you cast your eye once more 

 on Dr Eliot's description, you will see that his 

 Fowl Meadow grass is " an upright plant" until it 

 has gained the height of about three feet, and then 

 falls down ; but does not rot like other grass when 

 lodged ; and in a little time puts forth, ■tt every 

 joint, a new branch. In the next paragriph you 

 will see a similar description of the Fiorin, of 

 which the stalks rose in height and increased in 

 longth, until unable to support their own weight, 

 lltey fall down, still continuing to lengthen. You 

 are rightly informed that Fiorin is usuaty propa- 

 gated by strings (stolones) and not by s«ed. But 

 this is Dr Richardson's improved mode cf propa- 

 gating Fiorin. These strings at full length, are 

 spread, in successive stripes about tliree yaids 

 Nkidc, over tlie Burface of well prepared ground, 

 and covered with earth taken from what is to be 

 the next stripe. "I cannot determine(says the Doc 

 tor) how thick they should be spread ; we know 

 that nearly every joint will strike a root." But 

 the Fiorin is also propagated by seed, of which 

 (he says) it throws up great crops, and which the 

 Doctor was in the practice of sending, in papers, 

 to distant places, as the most desirable mode " of 

 getting into stock." 



Tliere are said to be forty species of the agros- 

 ti.i, of wliich tlie agrostis stolonifera, (called in 

 Ireland Fiorin) is the most valuable. The Fowl 

 Meadow grass which, in the same note you men- 

 tion as having been introduced into New Jersey 

 by WiUiam Foster, from New England, seems to 

 bear a strong resemblance to tlie Fowl Meadow 

 grass if not tlie same which was cultivated and 

 e.xtoUed by Dr Eliot. EXAMINER. 



{)[^Thc only grass called Fowl Meadow, which 

 I have seen, is strictly " an upright plant" as you 

 call it : but is certainly very different from that 

 described by Dr Eliot. 



GOLDEN PIPPINS. 

 T. G. Fessenden, Esq. 



Dear Sir — The Golden Pippins alluded to by 

 your Worcester County correspondent, were from 

 trees which I found on my farm in the year 1800, 

 the time I made the purchase of Col. Apthorp. 

 The trees then appeared old and gave but a small 

 quantity of fruit for several years; since they have 

 been productive, and every other year have been 

 loaded with fruit of an excellent quality, and 

 fhought by many persons to be larger than the 



golden pippin generally grows in this country, or 

 in Europe. Tl.c trees are thrifty, and every year 

 throw out new shoots from the outer and upper 

 branches, a pretty good indication of health. I 

 grafted several trees from them which appear ,to 

 be doing well. Two of the trees have given me a 

 few apples that were large and equal to the best 

 apples from the old trees. I saw one tree grafted 

 in Newton, with the scions from them that was in 

 bearing four years since, and I thought the fruit 

 superior in size to the best from the trees from 

 which the scions were taken. But the tree was in 

 a fine situation, well sheltered, and in a deep and 

 rich loam, naturally rich, and entirely free from 

 gravel or any gritty substance. 



Col. Apthorp to whom I applied for a history 

 of tlie trees, wrote me the '3ilA ult. that he could 

 not refer me to any living testimony, but was in- 

 formed by a black man, {King J}ariil so called) 

 who lived with Capt. Harding, the gentleman 

 who first purchased and built on the farm, and 

 after his death (Capt. Harding's) worked for the 

 uncle and father of Col. Apthorp — that the trees 

 were imported by his father from England which 

 must have been as early as 17Qt', perhaps earlier. 

 He also observed the fruit was considered as su- 

 perior of the kind, and he had while in possession 

 of the farm endeavoured to encourage the cultiva- 

 tion, and had freely furnished scions to those that 

 wished for them. Col. Apthorp observes in his 

 letter that the fruit was superior to any of tlie 

 golden pippins he met with when in England. 



My late father imported from England in ISO'J 

 two golden pippin trees, and set them out on his 

 farm in Newbury, parish of Byfield. They have 

 grown well, appear thrifty and healthy, have borne 

 for several years ; last year I had a barrel from 

 oie of the trees that were large and fine, and as 

 late as January some of them were perfectly 

 sound and in a fine state for eating. 



I believe, sir, you have all the facts I can fur- 

 nish on the subject. I remain,with best wishes for 

 your health, and success in your agricultural pur- 

 suits, Your friend and humble servant, 



gorham parsons. 



Brighton, June 10, 1826. 



NEW BRUNSWICK AGRICULTURAL SO- 

 CIETY. 

 T. G. Fessenden, Esq. 



Sir — It was but a few days ago, that I received 

 your paper of 5th January, in which an- extract of 

 my letter to you appeared ; and tiiose of 20lh Jan. 

 and 10th Feb. ih whicli Mr Williams, Mr Prince 

 and Mr Brentnall were so kind as to publish 

 the description, and state the price of cattle which 

 they had for sale. Those papers were marked at 

 St. Andrews " 11 April," so that they must have 

 been delayed on their way from Boston to that 

 place. 



If I had received them within a reasonable time 

 after their publication, answers would have been 

 immediately made to the communications of those 

 gentlemen above named. You would do me a 

 favour by stating this. 



As the operations of our Society may not be al- 

 together uninteresting to you, I therefore state 

 that we have sent to England for eight Bulls, and 



eight Heifers of the Improved Durham Short Hern 

 breed, for eight Rams, and eight Ewes, of the im- 

 proved Dishlcy, and for six Rams, and four Ev/es 

 of the South Down breed, and for a full blooded 

 Horse. These inny be expected to arrive in the 

 course of the summer. 



Our Society lately imported from New York, 

 ninety of Freeborn's Ploughs, a few forks, and 

 other implements of Husbandry. They will all be 

 sold at auction in a fev.' days, in ditferent parts of 

 the country. I am, sir. 



Yours respectfully, 



R. SIMONDS. 



POISONOUS CHEESE. 



Ma Fessenden — In a late number of the Farm- 

 er I obser>e the subject of Poisonous Cheese again 

 brougiit forward. That cheese often possesses 

 poisonous qualities, few, I presume, are inclined 

 to doubt. I wonder that many who have been 

 searching for the cause, have said nothinr, that I 

 can learn, of tlio poison probably imparted by the 

 lead on earthen milk pans. 



We often hear of persons poisoned by eating 

 apple, cranberry and other sauces, kept in vessels 

 of the above description ; and I see no reason why 

 we may not expect the poison in cheese to be pro- 

 duced in the same manner. 



Yours respectfully, 



Junc9,lS2(;. A Newton FarsieU, 



SMUT IN WHEAT. 



Mr Fessenden, — The perusal of the article on 

 " Smut." «ir page 309 of tlic current volume of the 

 New England Farmer, has called to mind soiuu 

 facts and experiments which 1 have taken tlie lib- 

 erty to mention, with the hope of eliciting further 

 information on this important subject. 



In 1823 one of my Leighbours received from n 

 friend in Vermont, some choice seed wheat, v.iaci;, 

 in the spring of the same year, he sowed after 

 having prepared it in the usu^l way of farmers in 

 this vicinity. His method is to steep the wheat 3J 

 hours or more in strong brine, and after this is de- 

 canted off", to mix with tlie wheat slaked lime or 

 wood ashes. The product of this sowing was o-ood 

 and free from the least appearance of smut. In 

 1824 he sowed a field of the same, prepared in the 

 same manner, but the quantity prepared not being 

 sufficient for the field designed for it, the deficien- 

 cy was supplied by wheat taken directly from the 

 granary. His wheat this year was not so good as 

 to quantity as the last, and was very smultij. 



There was no perceptible diff"erence in the wheat 

 grown on that part of the field where the seed was 

 soaked and where it was not. The same year I 

 procured some of his wheat and prepared it in the 

 same method, excepting I mixed with it slaked lime 

 and wood ashes before sowing. Mine was sowed 

 three days after his. I also had to have an addi- 

 tional quantity to complete the sowing of the field 

 — which he prepared for me in his usual way, ex- 

 cepting it was permitted to steep but 12 hours. This 

 was put into the ground three days after the first. 

 The produce was good, being estunated at more 

 than 30 bushels to the acre, and not a particle of 

 smut was found by the reapers. 



The next year, 1825, 1 supplied my neighbour 

 with wheat, which, after he bad submitted, it to 



