1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



57 



southern cuttings planted in the north make an in- 

 complete growth. It is an established rule, that 

 the more perfect the organization of the parent, 

 tlie more healthy and vigorous will be the otTspring. 

 I have now belbre me a letter from an intelligent 

 gentleman, residing at Columbia, S. C. written 

 without any reference to this controversy, and in 

 ignorance of its existence. He says, "I have 

 trees (500) originally fi^om Long Island, five years 

 old, which are not so large or vigorous as those of 

 my own raising, planted in March last ! " Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Prince's doctrine, the succeeding 

 generations could never have attained the same 

 developement as the stock from which they sprung. 

 Not content with simply claiming a superiority 

 for northern over southern trees, Mr. Prince has 

 undertaken to decide the degree of preference to 

 which they are entitled. He says they have one- 

 third more of buds upon them, and are therefore 

 worth 50 per cent more. This assertion is so en- 

 tirely gratuitous tliat I cannot imagine how any 

 person having a regard for "truth," could venture 

 to make it. In what respect do they have more 

 buds? Is their developement greater? Mr. P. 

 has virtually abandoned this ground. Are the 

 joints closer together ? The proximity or elonga- 

 tion of ihe joints depend mainly on the size of the 

 plant. A three foot tree at Flushing has precisely 

 the same number of joints that a tree o^ the same 

 size has elsewhere, excluding the side branches. 

 But a small plant has certainly more buds in pro- 

 portion to its size than a tall one. Mr. Prince 

 must therefore mean that his trees have more l)uds 

 per foot than southern trees. Granted: but does 

 not this fict imply smuh'er trees, and thereby im- 

 pair their value lor propagation 7 A section of 

 such a growth, to be long enough for a cutting, 

 must include a greater number of buds than if 

 the tree was large and vigorous; or ifdivided into 

 single buds, the pieces are necessarily so short, 

 as to retain their vitalitj'' only for a limited time. In 

 regard to the fitness ofsuch v^ood lor propagation, I 

 take the liberty of extracting from a letter written 

 by a gentleman of Flushing, a neighbor of Mr 

 Prince: "Out of 10,000 cuttings," says the writer, 

 "1 have raised only 200 trees; cuttings generally 

 turned out badly this year, owing to the season 

 being damp and cold in the spring, and followed 

 by dry weather." The season was equally un- 

 favorable here, but I do not believe there has 

 been any thing like such a ftuluro, in any planta- 

 tion in Virginia; and li-om all accounts, JMr 

 Prince's increase from the number planted was 

 not in a much greater proportion. 



Mr Prince says I have evaded his warjer, in- 

 stead of accepting it. On this point I must dilTer 

 with him; for he has never ventured to make it 

 in plain and explicit terms. His first proposition 

 was this: "We now olTer to exhibit one, two, 

 three or more thousand of our trees, witli any 

 plantation of one year's growth, of the same kind, 

 existing in Maryland or Virginia." This offer 

 designates no specific age for his own trees; and 

 if it had been accepted, it might have possibly 

 comported with Mr Prince's notions of a fair 

 "competition," for him to have exhibited two- 

 year old trees, while he restricted us lo those ol 

 one year's growth. Neither docs his last olli-r, 

 though apparently made in sucli a spirit of libe- 

 rality, fully meet the case. If he was as sincere 

 and earnest as he aireclis to be, and really believed 

 Vol. VlI-8 



in the great superioriiy of his own trees, he would 

 not be willing to claim any advantages in the con- 

 test. I therefore, again assert, that Mr Prince 

 dare not show his trees on fair and equal terms. 

 It is now too kite in the season to be exhibiting 

 southern trees, as our slender stock is very nearly 

 exhausted; but if Mr Prince will renew his wager 

 for another year, and will say, "We now offer 

 to exhibit in the autumn of 1839, one, two, three, 

 or more thousands of our multicaulis trees grown 

 in New York, or New England, from cuttings 

 planted in the open ground, the ensuing spring, 

 with a like number, grown in the same manner, in 

 any plantation in Maryland or Virginia; and if 

 ours are not superior in the growth of the wood, 

 and number of mature buds, to any other parcel 

 of similar extent, we will pay to the ov/ner of the 

 other parcel one thousand dollars, or one thousand 

 of the trees, he agreeing to pay a similar forfeit, if 

 the reverse'is the case." I say, if Mr Prince will 

 make this offer, he will redeem himself from the 

 reproaches he has incurred, of vain-boasting, and 

 msincerity; and his desire lor competition shall, in 

 due time, be gratified. 



A word in regard lo Mr. Prince's personalities, 

 and I have done. He has mdidged in thern 

 throughout one half of his communication, evi- 

 dently for the purpose of withdrawing attention 

 from the matter in dispute. They are, how- 

 ever, as harmless in Ihe ell'ectfhey may have been 

 intended to produce, as they are misdirected. The 

 editor of the Farmers' Register is abundantly able 

 to rescue his own conduct and motives from as- 

 persion; and the arrows of IMr. Prince have not 

 reached me, either directly, or through the sides of 

 another. Anti-puff. 



ON THE SEVERAL CLAIMS TO THE MERIT OF 

 HAVING FIRST INTRODUCED THE BIORUS 

 MULTICAULIS. 



From the Ricliniond Enquirer. 



You will recollect, ihat it was at your request, 

 received on the 10th, that I addressed a hurried 

 communication for the 'Enquirer' of the 12th Oc- 

 tober last. 



I now desire, through tlie same medium, to no- 

 tice a letter of Wm. R. Prince of the 1st of Novem- 

 ber, 1838 — a postcript to the same, dated the 22d 

 of December, following, addressed to the editor of^ 

 and published in, th.i Farmers' Register, vol. 6, 

 No. 12, pages 753 and 4, and also an extract of 

 a letter from Mr. Prince, to Gideon B. Smith, 

 dated the 12th of July, 1830, published in the 

 same No. of the Farmers' Register, page 754. 



In my communication of the 12th of October 

 last, I expressed the Jjelief, based upon good au- 

 thority, as I then supposed, that we were indebt- 

 ed to Dr. Norton for the introduction, &c., of the 

 moras multicaulis in this country. During the 

 session of the silk convention in Baltimore, in De- 

 cember last, and since my return, I have obtained 

 such information as induces me now to believe, 

 that I was mistaken in the belief then so hastily 

 expressed; and as there are now three persons 

 claiming that distinction* I shall not, until I see the 

 title deeds legally authenticated, venture the ex- 



* Wm. Prince and Son, Dr. Norton, and M. Bes- 

 SJn. Si;e F, Rojjistcr, vol. 6, No, 12.. p. 755. 



