560 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



view t ! ie extensive and varied productions of the 

 Americr. Flora. The enterprise would be attend- 

 ed with much expense in the outset, and would 

 require many men and an annual outlay of money 

 to keep it in order ; but it would be money and 

 labor well expended, and should be appropriated 

 liberally, as the cause of agriculture would be 

 benefited and the wealth of the nation increased 

 in consequence. But were we to receive no pecu- 

 niary return, a National Garden should be estab- 

 lished on a scale worthy the American people — one 

 which would be the resort of scientific men of all 

 nations, and who would know how to appreciate 

 the favor of being permitted to examine all our 

 plants in one collection. 



There is no doubt there are kinds of grain, veg- 

 etables and fruits yet undiscovered in our new ter- 

 ritories, which will prove equal, and perhaps su- 

 perior, to any now grown, which might he ex- 

 perimented upon in a garden of this kind, and if 

 found worthy, sent out for cultivation. 



Many medicinal plants, dye woods and other 

 productions, useful in commerce or the arts, are 

 now growing in our western wilderness, unknown 

 to any but the lonely Indian, who knows but little 

 of their value. It appears as though it would he 

 expedient for our government to send out an ex 

 pedition to the unexplored regions of the West 

 and other locations to examine the botany and col 

 lect seeds and plants for experiment ; it would be 

 a rich field for the student of Nature, and would be 

 attended with much instruction. 



The resources of America are as yet undevel- 

 oped, but the spirit of investigation is abroad, and 

 our vegetable productions will be sought out and 

 proved, and many new productions will ere long 

 be added to the already numerous list. 



Leominster, 1852. ' 0. V. Hill. 



AUTUMN LEAVES. 



O, Autumn leaves ! 



Summer's bright roses one by one have past; 



Gone is tike beauty of the golden sheaves; 



Ye come at last, 

 Prophets of Winter hours approaching fast! 



O, Autumn leaves ! 

 Why look ye thus so brilliant in decay* 



Why, for the dying year when Nature grieves, 



Are ye so gay 

 With richer hues than graced her op'niug dayr 



O, Autumn leaves ! 

 Ye, as ye don your crimson robes of mirth, 

 While dull decay a moment scarce reprieves 



Your forms from earth — 

 Ye tell us, happier far is death than birth! 



O, Autumn leaves ! 

 Like you the dying saint in splendor grows; 

 With each faint pulse of life that feebly heaves 



At evening's close, 

 His ev'ry grace with added glory grows. 



O, Autumn leaves ! 

 Like you, he casts aside all hues of gloom, 

 And of his bright'ning hopes a chaplet weaves 

 That o'er his tomb 

 Throws the glad promise of eternal bloom. 



Remarks. — We fully agree in opinion with the 

 above, as to the establishment of a National Bo- 

 tanic Garden. That may be done by Congress, 

 without political danger, and without any very 

 great expense. A Botanic and Zoological Garden 

 ought to be established at Washington, and might 

 be filled with all manner of animals and plants by 

 our naval officers who are constantly returning 

 home from every part of the world. It would cost 

 something, certainly, but the money would be 

 mostly expended among a hard-working class of 

 our population, and their establishment would pro- 

 mote the knowledge of plants and animals and 

 gratify the tastes of the people. 



Whatever objections may be made to the estab 

 lishment of agricultural colleges, (and we think 

 many reasonable ones may be) there would proba 

 ably be but little difference in opinion in regard to 

 a garden of plants and animals on a somewhat ex- 

 tensive scale. 



University of Vermont. — Through the polite- 

 ness of Mr. E. R. H. Howard, we have received 

 a catalogue of the officers and students of this Uni- 

 versity. It is one of the handsomest specimens of 

 printing we have ever seen, and is from the press 

 of Messrs. Stacy & Jameson, of Burlington. Whole 

 number of students 135. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 INFLUENCE OP THE FRUIT STOCK. 



Mr. Editor : — A coi-respondent a few weeks ago 

 made inquiries relative to the effect of the stock 

 on fruit. He appears to question whether it can 

 have any. Though the subject is far from being 

 clear or definite in my mind, I will take the oppor- 

 tunity of making a few remarks. In the first 

 place, I think it a fixed fact that the stock does af- 

 fect the quality, and perhaps the color and size of 

 the fruit — partly depending upon the nature of 

 the stock and the graft, and their relative size and 

 power. AVhat makes one apple sour and another 

 sweet 1 It must be the nature of the ingredients 

 which the stock has the power of accumulating 

 from the soil and the atmosphere ; else all apples 

 would be alike. Eight-tenths of the apple are 

 composed of water (or acidulated juice,) and near- 

 ly two-tenths of carbon, which forms the pulp. 

 The juice of the apple is partly drawn through the 

 stock from the moisture of the earth, and partly 

 through the leaves from the moisture of the at- 

 mosphere. Where a sweet apple stock greatly 

 preponderates over the bearing graft of a sour ap- 

 ple, we should suppose the fruit would be modi- 

 fied by an increase of saccharine matter, so long 

 as it retains its preponderance, and that the fruit 

 of the graft would approach its original flavor in 

 proportion as it gained in head. Such is, I think, 

 the result of observation where extremes have been 

 united. Where the fruit of the stock and the graft 

 is similar in acidity, of course such influence is not 

 perceived. I am inclined to believe that where a 

 fruit is under the influence of the stock, should 

 scions be cut and inserted on a stock of similar 

 acidity, a distinct variety of fruit may be secured. 

 Why we do not see more distinctly the influence 

 of a grafted fruit, is, I apprehend, from the cir- 

 cumstance that the majority of stocks and scions 

 are sub-acid, and not opposite in their nature. 



Fruit elaborates itself principally in the open 

 air, or draws in its nourishment through its own 

 leaves ; and were it not from this law there would 

 be but little fidelity in the scion. But its accretion 



