1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



527 



English plums, originated from the Sloe plum, a 

 wild and austere, small, black fruit— or according 

 to Mr. Neill, from the Bullace, another wild plum, 

 very small, and acid. The gooseberry, originally 

 a small, indifferent fruit, has by cultivatieu, not 

 only highly improved in flavor, but wonderfullv 

 in size. The large Dutch red and the large Dutch 

 white currant, are highly productive and improved 

 varieties. But the white currant, as Mr. Loudon 

 asserts, is but a variety, produced from the seeds 

 of the red currant. 



Cross- fertilization may, indeed, elfect impor- 

 tant improvements, by combining in one object, 

 those desirable qualities, which may be previously 

 possessed by two other individuals in separate 

 states. But it can never of itself, and alone, pro- 

 duce or create those opposite qualities, which had 

 never existed before in any individual; but are as 

 directly opposed to all that had ever before existed, 

 as white is to red or to black, and we must look to 

 other causes for such important changes. 



The following mode, by which the Belgians 

 have succeeded in obtaining so many newand ex- 

 traordinary varieties, is from the account written 

 by Dr. Van Mons— and for this valuable article, 

 we are indebted to the researches of Gen. Dear- 

 born, by whom this account was inserted in Vol. 

 VII. No. 28 of the New England Farmer. 



"The Belgians give no preference to the seeds 

 of table fruits, when they plant to obtain new ame- 

 liorated kinds. When their plants appear, they 

 do not, like us, found their hopes upon individuals 

 exempt from thorns, furnished with large leaves, 

 and remarkable fur the size and beauty of their 

 wood; on the contrary, they prefer the most thorny 

 subjects, provided that the thorns are long, and 

 that the plants are furnished with many buds or 

 eyes, placed very near together. This last, cir- 

 cumstance appears to them, and with reason, to be 

 an indication that the tree will speedily produce 

 fruit. As soon as the young individuals which of- 

 fer these favorable appearances, afford grafts or 

 buds, capable of being inoculated upon other 

 stocks, these operations are performed; the apples 

 on paradise, and the pears on quince stocks, to 

 hasten their fructification. The first fruit is gene- 

 rally very bad, but, the Belgians do not regard 

 that; whatever it is, they carefully collect°the 

 seeds and plant them; from these a second genera- 

 tion is produced, which commonly shows the com- 

 mencement of an amelioration. As soon as the 

 young plants of this second generation have scions, 

 or buds, proper for the purpose, they are transfer- 

 red to other stocks as were the preceding; the 

 third and fourth generation are treated in the same 

 manner, and until there are finally produced ame- 

 liorated fruits worthy of being propagated. M. 

 Van Mons asserts, that the peach and apricot, 

 treated in this manner, afford excellent fruit in the 

 third generation. The apple does not yield supe- 

 rior fruit before the fourth or fifth generation. The 

 pear is slower in its amelioration; but M. Van 

 Mons informs us, that in the sixth generation, it 

 no longer produces inferior, but affords excellent 

 fruits, intermixed with those of a middling qual- 

 ity." 



Intelligent writers, those on whom we may rely. 

 have assured us, that the new and numerous class 

 of fruits which have arisen during the last forty 

 years, in Belgium, is far more precious and ines- 

 timable in point of quality, than all previously 



known. They refer in this more particularly to 

 pears. 



Highly satisfactory specimens of some of the 

 new species which are described in the following 

 pages, have been seen and exhibited among us; 

 enough to convince us of the decided excellence 

 of at least a portion of them; but as yet but a 

 small proportion of the new foreign varieties here 

 described, have borne fruit in our country. 



The unwearied labors of Van Mons,of Knight, 

 of CoIoma,of Hardenport, of Duquesne, of Nelis, 

 of Liarf, of Dorlain, and others, have probably ef- 

 fected more, during the last forty years, than all 

 that had been previously accomplished during 

 twenty centuries. 



All these fruits are recommended as highly de- 

 serving of trial in our climate. From them we 

 must make our selections at another day, of such 

 kinds onlv, as prove on trial, alike adapted to our 

 climate, the very best in quality and the most pro- 

 ductive. 



From Chaptal's Chemistry applied to Agriculture. 

 SUCCESSION OF CROPS. 



A soil may be forced, by extreme care, enor- 

 mous expense, and the use of manure without mea- 

 sure, to produce all sorts of crops; but it is not 

 in such sorts of proceeding that the science of ag- 

 riculture consists. Agriculture ought not to be 

 considered as an object of luxury, and whenever 

 the produce of agricultural management, does not 

 amnly repay the care and expense bestowed upon 

 it, the system followed is bad. 



A good npricultarist, will, in the first place, 

 make himself acquainted with the nature of his 

 soil in order to know the kind of plants to which it 

 is best adapted; this knowledge may be easily ac- 

 quired by an acquaintance with the species of the 

 plants produced upon it spontaneously, or by ex- 

 periments made upon the land, or upon analogous 

 soils in the neighborhood. 



But however well adapted the soil and climate 

 may be to the cultivation of any particular kind 

 of vegetable, the former soon ceases to be produc- 

 tive if constantly appropriated to the culture of 

 plants of the same or analogous species. In or- 

 der that land may be cultivated successfully, va- 

 rious kinds of vegetables must be raised upon it 

 in succession, and the rotation must be conducted 

 with intelligence, that none unsuited either to the 

 soil or climate may be introduced. It is the art of 

 varying the crops upon the same soil, of causing 

 different vegetables to succeed one another, and 

 of understanding the effect of each upon the soil, 

 that can alone establish that good order of suc- 

 cession which constitutes cropping. 



A good system of cropping is, in my opinion, 

 the best guarantee of success that the farmer can 

 have; without this, all is vague, uncertain, and 

 hazardous. In order to establish this good system 

 of cropping, a degree of knowledge is necessary, 

 which unhappily is wanting to the greater part of 

 our practical farmers. I shall here state certain 

 facts and principles, which may serve as guides in 

 this important branch of agriculture. 



More extensive information on this subject may 

 be found in the excellent works of Messrs. Yvart, 

 and Pictet.* 



*"Cours coraplet d'AgricuIture," articles Assolement 



