50 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



horticultural. 



NEW PEARS FROM ANGERS, FRANCE. 

 We copy from Hovey's Horticultural Magazine 

 for January the following extracts from an article 

 relating to a fine collection of Pears, recently re- 

 ceived by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 from the other side of the Atlantic : 



The facilities of steam navigation are beginning 

 to be felt in the diffusion of pomological informa- 

 tion. Heretofore we could only import with 

 safety fruit trees of various kinds, and patiently 

 await their fruiting before we could decide whether 

 we had obtained the correct kinds ; and even then, 

 we were not certain as to the results; for the 

 great similarity of many kinds renders a mere 

 description of the fruit of only comparative value. 

 With the rapidity of steam communication, how- 

 ever, we are now enabled to interchange specimens 

 with foreign cultivators, and thus settle all doubts, 

 regarding the identity of varieties; and not only 

 this, but we can learn the value of the newer sorts 

 immediately, by the inspection and trial of the 

 fruit, without waiting for the tree to bear. The 

 first instance of this kind, on anything of an ex- 

 tensive scale, has been the receipt by the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society, of upwards of 175 

 varieties of fruits, sent by A. Leroy, nurseryman 

 of Angers, France. They embraced 116 of pears, 

 36 of apples, and 19 of other small fruit, including 

 nuts. The package containing them was sent to 

 Liverpool, to be forwarded to Boston, to the care 

 of Messrs. Hovey & Co. ; but from some cause, it 

 had laid over a week or more in the former place, 

 and then went to New York, from whence it was 

 forwarded to Boston. But, notwithstanding this 

 delay, many of the pears and apples came to hand 

 in perfect order, and enabled the committee to ex- 

 amine the kinds, and test the quality, of such of 

 the new ones as were in fine condition. 



We have not time now to enumerate all these 

 kinds. The specimens were, some of them, very 

 fine, but no better than those of the same kinds 

 which have been exhibited by our own amateurs 

 and nurserymen. The Uvedale's St. Germain 

 weighed 24 ounces. To us, the result of the ex- 

 pedition proves that we can, as Mr. Lowell has 

 said, raise as fine pears "in this State" as the 

 "world produces." 



caused to make their appearance at the very time 

 when the condition of the body, operated upon by 

 the deteriorating causes not always understood, re- 

 quires their grateful, renovating influences. — Bos- 

 ton Med. and Surg. Journal. 



A Challenge to Horticulturists. — Five years 

 ago I began to set an orchard. This fall I took 

 from one Baldwin tree three bushels and a half of 

 apples like the sample I send you ; from a Rhode 

 Island Greening, two and a half bushels ; from a 

 Roxbury Russet, a half bushel — all like the sam- 

 ples sent. The manner of cultivating my trees is 

 set forth in a pamphlet I published this fall. I 

 further challenge the United States to produce so 

 fine samples of peach, cherry, plum, pear, apricot 

 and nectarine trees, for the time they have been 

 set. The apples, when transplanted in the or- 

 chard, were about six or seven feet high ; cherries 

 the same; peaches were maiden plants. The or- 

 chard contains 1200 peach, 1500 pear, 200 cherry, 

 and 200 apple trees. I sold from five peach trees 

 $25 worth. — Ger^sse Farmer. 



Flow t ers ix Winter. — Last year one of my lit- 

 tle girls took an old tin milk pan, filled it with 

 earth, and set it full of garden violets, which flow- 

 ered all winter. This fall I have taken another, 

 (I would prefer a deeper vessel,) perforated it with 

 holes, set up a stalk in the centre, and surrounded 

 it with young violets that have just begun to blos- 

 som, and already I have quite a handsome little 

 flower-garden. The lovers of violets will be well 

 paid by a similar arrangement. — Ibid. 



Down East, 1851. 



JUccrjamcs' SU'partmmt, 2lrt0, $?c. 



The Use of Fruit. — Instead of standing in any 

 fear of a generous consumption of ripe fruits, we 

 regard them as positively, conducive to health. 

 The very maladies commonly assumed to have their 

 origin in the free use of apples, peaches, cherries, 

 melons and wild berries have been quite as preva- 

 lent, if not equally destructive, in seasons of scar- 

 city. There are so many erroneous notions enter- 

 tained of the bad effects of fruit, that it is quite 

 time a counteracting impression should be promul- 

 gated, having its foundation in common sense and 

 based on the common observation of the intelligent. 

 We have no patience in reading the endless rules to 

 be observed in this particular department of physi- 

 cal comfort. No one, we imagine, ever lived longer 

 or freer from the paroxysms of disease, by discard- 

 ing the delicious fruits of the land in which he 

 finds a home. On the contrary, they are necessa- 

 ry to the preservation of health, and arc therfbre 



SUBMARINE RAILROADS. 



This is the age of discoveries and inventions, and 

 he would be fool-hardy who pronounces any project 

 chimerical, however astounding it may appear. A 

 gentleman of London, named Hector Horeau, has 

 proposed to build a sub-marine railroad between 

 France and England. The plan is to construct a 

 tube of strong plate iron, and place it on the bot- 

 tom of the channel, which is twenty-one miles 

 wide, between the two countries, and the water is 

 not deep between the Straits of Dover. It is pro- 

 posed to propel the carriages by stationary engines 

 at the end of the tube. It is proposed to have strong 

 glass windoAvs in the tube, to light it up by day, 

 and at night it can be easily lighted with gas. Air 

 can be forced through it so as to keep the atmo- 

 sphere always pure. A light-house placed on each 

 coast, and a number of floating buoys, will indicate 

 the track of the tube, above the water, so as to 

 prevent mariners casting anchor near it. The ed- 

 itor of the Scientific American, whose opinion is en- 

 titled to great weight, says "the plan appears to 

 be feasible, and we hope it will be carried out, and 

 add a new tribute to the genius and skill of the 

 civil-engineer — England's master-spirit." 



A sub-marine bridge of the description named, 

 though on a smaller scale, has also been projected 

 by another engineer. Mr. Cunningham, architect, 

 of Liverpool, has submitted a project to the directors 

 of the various railway companies interested in the 

 communication between Birkenhead and Liver- 



