226 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



bears every year abundant crops of nice small, gray 

 russet pears, which, if picked early and ripened in 

 the house, are of very excellent quality. 



The Scckel. — Mr. Downing's praise of this is 

 very liberal : he says, we do not hesitate to pro- 

 nounce this American pear the richest and most 

 exquisitely flavored variety known. The tree is 

 the healthiest and hardiest of all pear trees, form- 

 ing a fine, compact, symmetrical head, and bear- 

 ing regular and abundant crops. We add that the 

 Seckel may be grafted on large trees, and soon be 

 come productive. 



The Dearborn's Seedling is a very admirable 

 early pear, of first quality. It bears most abun- 

 dant crops in every soil, and is one of the most de 

 sirable early varieties. Ripens about the middle 

 of August. 



The Beurre d' 'Aremberg is certainly one of the 

 first of winter dessert pears in our climate. It is 

 a fine, large fruit, very high flavored, bears most 

 abundantly, and always keeps and matures, with 

 perhaps less care than any other winter fruit in 

 the house. When in perfection its flavor is not 

 unlike that of the pineapjale. 



In the above you have a list of twelve pears 

 which we consider the best, if you wish to set on- 

 ly about that number. If you wish to extend it, 

 a much larger list may be found in the monthly 

 Farmer for April. In making the selections, we 

 have consulted two or three of the most distin- 

 guished horticulturists of New England, and there- 

 fore have great confidence that the list is a good 

 one. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 EFFECT OF COLD ON PLANTS. 



At this season of the year, the fruit trees, espe- 

 cially the more tender kinds, are exceedingly lia- 

 ble to receive injury by the change from cold to a 

 warm temperature. By this cause not only is the 

 fruit culturist exposed to the loss of his fruit for 

 the year, but even soineiimes to the loss of the 

 tree itself, or to great injury arising to it. 



The spring will usually be more forward in pro- 

 portion as the winter has been more severe. That 

 is, if the temperature of the opening spring is pre- 

 cisely the same in two successive seasons, that de- 

 gree of temperature will bring forward vegetation 

 more quickly after a winter of greater cold, than 

 after a more moderate one. The reason of this is, 

 that cold quickens the sensibility, and excites the 

 irritability of plants, which is the reason why veg- 

 etation is more rapid in a colder climate than in a 

 milder region. When plants have been lono - ex- 

 posed to a lower temperature than usual, the sensi- 

 bility is so increased, that if they become sudden- 

 ly subjected to a powerful heat, their too excessive 

 increase of action induces inflammation, which 

 proceeding to mortification, causes the death of 

 the plant ; or in a less degree, causes the destruc- 

 tion of the fruit. The effect being similar to the 

 sadden application of heat to the human limbs 

 when frozen. This is considered to be the reason 

 why seeds germinate more readily, and at a lower 



temperature in the spring than in the fall. Bar- 

 ley is more easily malted in the spring than in the 

 fall, from the same cause. And vines that have 

 been exposed to the winter's cold without shelter, 

 put forth earlier than those which have been 

 housed. 



This increased irritability of plants after expos- 

 ure to cold was shown by an experiment made in 

 England many years ago. Dr. ~\Yahker made sev- 

 eral incisions in a birch tree, from which the sap 

 flowed on the 26th March, with the thermometer at 

 39° ; but it did not flow on the 13th with the ther- 

 mometer at 44°, or 5° higher. The reason of 

 which was supposed to be that on the night pre- 

 ceding the 25th, the thermometer was seven de- 

 grees lower than on that preceding the 13th — and 

 the greater cold excited the irritability of the tree 

 to a greater degree. And it has been found that 

 this irritability is greater in the morning than 

 later in the day, from the same cause. 



Those plants, therefore, that are kept housed 

 during the winter, should be occasionally exposed 

 to the cold, if possible. And seeds should be kept 

 in a cool place through the winter, to increase 

 their irritability, and thus promote an earlier and 

 more vigorous germination. 



This is a practical knowledge, within the range 

 of common experience, as the knowledge of the 

 similar increased sensibility in persons who are 

 frost-bitten and brought to a hot fire. But I am 

 inclined to think that the knowledge is not turned 

 to much practical account. Perhaps, in general, 

 it is the practice to keep seeds in a cool place 

 through the winter. But the fact might in some 

 other cases be quite important in the operations of 

 husbandry, — as in transplanting trees in the 

 spring ; which, supposing the temperature to be 

 nearly alike in two corresponding periods of differ- 

 ent years, at the thawing of the ground and after, 

 should be transplanted earlier after a very cold 

 winter than after a moderate one, because ,if the 

 spring weather is about alike in the two years, the 

 trees will come forward earlier after the cold win- 

 ter than after the other. And it will not be a 

 good practice to cover any plants or trees through 

 the winter that are able to stand the climate with- 

 out cover ; and those that are not able to with- 

 stand the coldest weather, and are therefore cov- 

 ered, would be benefited by exposure to occasional 

 cold, to as great a degree as would be safe for 

 them. 



As the season for transplanting trees is near at 

 hand, I have thought that this hint might be pro- 

 fitable to some of your numerous readers, though 

 the fact on which it is based has not escaped their 

 notice. For though the gardeners and those who 

 have need to keep it in mind always or periodical- 

 ly, will not overlook it, yet farmers who are set- 

 ting out orchards might not, in all cases, attend to 



it. J. A. B. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 NATURE'S FREAK. 



A small greening tree on the farm of Cant. Wm. 

 Tilson, of Halifax, was sawed off and Baldwin sci- 

 ons were inserted on the stock, which on fruiting 

 bore Baldwin apples the first year, of good size and 

 quality, but has since borne Greenings, and them 

 only, for several years. Can any one explain the 

 cause? e. c. n. 



East Bridgcwater, March 8, 1852. 



