112 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Oct. 24, 1828. 



MISCELLANIES. 



Tlie Season A tree in Perth Ainboy, N. J. has 



produced tlie prcsem season two crops of peaches: 

 the first of three bushels, the second of about a 

 luindrcd peaches. Tlie hlao bushes in and about 

 New York and Philailelpliia liave also, in several 

 instance,*, produced two sets of flo\vei-s this season 

 — strawberries of a good flavor, raised in the open 

 air, have been lately gathered in a garden in 

 Brooklyn, N. Y. 



Fivm the American Famer. 



The Pensaeola Gazette trusts that Florida will 

 no longer be called " the Paradise for Rogues," 

 since the Marshal of the District has received or- 

 <lers to put the U. S. Jail iu that city, in repair. 



Large Production. — Mr Russell Wood, of this 

 town, took from his garden a few days since a 

 common crooked neck winter sipiash, which 

 weighed 34 pounds. — Taunton Jldvocate. 



The corps of Engineers engaged in selecting a 

 line for the Columbia and Philadeljihia rail road, 

 arrived on the l.jth inst. in the prosecution of 

 their labors, to within five miles of Philadelphia. 



A number of citizens of New Jer-sey have held 

 a public meeting in Mount Holly, with the object 

 of having a rail i-oad constructed between Cam- 

 den, Gloucester county, and the Raritan river, or 

 bay, in the county of Middlesex. 



It 

 Paul 

 action of the su>\ 



is found that the lead on the dome of St 

 s Cathedral, London, has been fused by the 



Prince Leopold has succeeded in bringing to 

 perfection that extraordinary exotic, the air plant. 

 It is suspended from the ceihng, and derives its 

 nourishntent entirely from the atmosphere. 



PLUMS. 



THE PREP.^R.ITION OF PRUNES. 



As some of your readers are anxious to learn 

 the process of making prunes, I send you the fol- 

 lowing description of it, extracted from the French 

 books. It is, you will perceive, exceedingly sim- 

 ple, and may be practised to any extent in this 

 country, skill and industry might make it as pro- 

 fitable a business hero as in Europe. 



Tlie plums must be gathered with the hand, 

 when perfectly ripe. They cannot be too sound ; 

 and such as fall or are punctured by insects should 

 be rejected. Arrange them on plates or sheets of 

 iron so as not to touch one another, and put them 

 in an oven after the bread has been taken out. 

 While there turn and move them occasionally. 

 When become cool, pack them compactly in box- 

 es and secure them from moisture. If they are 

 not dry enough when withdrawn from the oven, 

 place them in the sun ; for it would render them 

 too dry and hai'd, to subject them to the heat of 

 an oven a second time. In choosing prunes, pre- 

 fer those that are new^, soft, and fleshy. They 

 will keep upwards of two years. 



Prunes may be made of almost every sort of 

 plum that is eaten. But those that are consider- 

 ed the best for the purpose, are the Gros damasde 

 Tours," the Imperialc violctte, and the Imperatrice 

 violettc. 



There is another preparation of plums, in which 

 they are called Brignoles. For them are used 

 chiefly, and almost exclusively, the White pcrdri- 

 gon, which is a very fine sweet fruit. At the vil- 

 lage of Brignoles, in Province, in France, where 

 this preparation was first made, the Perdrigon 

 plum is steeped in hot water to loosen the skin, 

 then peeled, and then split open to remove the 

 stone. 



wine grape, no one can say ; but for the table it 

 ccpials the best French grapes. 



The late Gen. Allen .Jones found a vine of tlif 

 same kind in an adjacent island, about thirty years 

 since, which he removed it to his garden, where it 

 throve well and bore luxuriuntl)-, hut at his death, 

 which happened a few years after, it was lost. — 

 That from which 1 send you the seed has been 

 known for some years to the Trappers on the riv- 

 er ; who described it to me as being of the same 

 kind with the one found by Gen. Jones. For three 

 years 1 failed to get some of the fruit ; this season 

 I got a few hunches, when its fine flavor and rar- 

 ity determined me to propagate it both by seed 

 and cuttings, and through you to offer them to 

 those who wish to cultivate the finest vine of this, 

 and I believe of any country. 



Yours, respectfully, 



A. J. DAVIE. 



P. S. General Jones called it the Perfume Grape. 

 At the proper season I will send you cuttings ; it 

 is but a single small vine. These seeds should 

 be directly placed in rich alluvial soil — they will 

 come up next spring. I should be glad to have 

 some directions how to juit up the cuttings, and 

 how to direct them. 



My grandfather, the late Gen. Jones, who was 

 the first botanist of the southern states, and curi- 

 ous both in shrubs and vines, considered this as 

 the finest grape in his collection, and he had a 

 great variety. D. 



fi'ilson's J^furseri/, Derry, .V. H. 



The proprietors inform tile public tliai tlieir nursery oflers pe- 

 culiar facility tor the accjuiremeul of useful fruit j more tlian fif- 

 ty thousand trees now cultivated by them consist'ng; of a great 

 variety of Apples. Peaches, Plums, Cherries, Quinces, &c. em- 

 bracing most of the celebrated and esteemed kinds in this coun- 

 try. T'he utmost care has been observed by the oriicinal pro- 

 prietor for more than thirty years, in inakino^ the selection and 

 the whole is now otlered as containing none but the most worthy 

 of cultivation. Persons not acquainted with the ditfcrent kind's' 

 The rest of the process is the same as in by name, who wish to procure choice kinds, by stating the time 



the preparation of ordinary prunes ; that 

 drying in an oven and in the sun, and th.c packing 

 away in tight boxes. The only difference, is, that 

 less heat must be applied to the Brignoles than 



Muster. — On Wednesday the 8th inst. the al- 

 lied forces assembled on Salem common, and the 

 spirit-stirring drum sat many a leg in motion, and 

 fired the breast of many a man Avith ardor not its 

 own. The light companies appeared with unus- j '° prunes. 



ual splendor, while, on the other hand, the heavy,] Besides the various preserves 

 that is tlie companies of the line, were unusually ; tliat are composed of plums, the French peasantry 

 gloomy. It is a tact no longer to be concealed, i '"ake a liquor of the wild plum, by crushing it in 



the ' *'"',^' ^^''^*' 'hem to ripen, may confidently trust to the proprietors 

 wiihuut (ear of disappointment. All orders will be promptly at- 

 tended to, and trees furnished at their nursery, this fall or next 

 sprmg, at the following prices. 



Apples, per hundred, ^l(i 



Peaches do 16 



and sweatmeats 



that the present organization of the militia is 

 wretched!}' defective. We need no other argu- 

 ment to convince us of tliis, than the thin and 

 wandering raiilis of our miliiia. Companies in 

 which, in "auW laiig syne," one hundred men 

 were enrolled, on Wednesday marched on the 

 tented field with only ten; "still beautiful in 

 ruins." The Salcn; regiment was in fact but a 

 handful, and the officers " were few and far be- 

 tween." If our present system is continued much 

 longer, musters will only contribute to show the 

 nakedness of the land. In case of invasion, we 

 verily believe it would be more effectual to sum- 

 mon the firemen, and rally round the engines and 

 send our enemies to a watery grave, than to turn 

 out the militia. — Salein Conner. 



water and letting it ferment. 



Plums do 



Cherries do 

 Quinces do 

 Horse Chesnuts 

 Oct 3 6t 



^IG and 

 JOHN A.' & SAMUEL ' 



25 



2,-. 



. 26 



WILSON. 



Messrs Hiliiard & Brown, booksellers to the 

 University at Cambridge, Massachusetts, have put 

 TO press the complete works of Dugald Stewaii. 



The Boston gas light company have issued the 

 terms and conditions on which they will supply 

 gas and fixtures. They propose to commence 

 operations at the close of the present raonth. 



AMERICAN GRAPES. 

 ]Mr. Skinner. — I send jou enclosed some 

 j grape seed ; the vine grows in a small island of 

 ' Roanoke, a few miles above the Great FalLs. It 

 is surely the only vine of the kind in the State, 

 perhajis in the world. I have had all the islands 

 carefully examined, and another cannot be found. 

 Its colour is purple, about one third larger than 

 the common grape of the wood, slightly elongated, 

 a difference in shape that distinguishes it from all 

 others ; in its flavor it is unrivalled, and when cat- 

 en diffuses a most grateful perfume. I prefer it 

 to the Scnppernong. How it may succeed as a 



* The Gros damas de Tours (large damask of Tours,) is not 

 mentioned, at least under its French name, in Mr. Prince's cat- 

 alogue. What its English name is, therefore, I do not know. 

 It is thus described in the books already referred to ; the tree 

 grows to a large size, and is apt, when a standard, to drop its 

 flowers; the fruit is rather long, of a moderalesize; has a deep 

 violet skin, floured, sour, and adhering to the flesh ; the tlesh is 

 yellowish, almost white, fine grain and firm j the juice is suga- 

 ry, and has the peculiar flavor of the damask plums. It is ad- 

 ded, that if the skin, which will not separate from the flesh, <lid 

 not communicate to it a disagreeable smell, this plum would be 

 excellent. 



FRESH SEEDS AND ROOTS. 



Boots of the Pie-Plant, or Tart Rhubarb. 

 A large supply of the roots of the Rheutii Ujuhdatinn, or T,-ul 

 Rhubarb, or Pie-Plant, an excellent article for summer use. — 

 (See N. E. Fanner, vol. vi, page 290, and page 11 of this vol- 

 ume, and Fessonden's New American Gardener, article Rha- 

 /?ur/>, for its culture and uses,) The roots are in fine order for 

 transplanting this fall. Price 2o cts. per root. 



Potato and Tree Onions. 



Also, a supply of Potato and Tree Onions. The Potato Onion 

 has proved a fine acquisition to the list of vegetables raised in 

 this country, and is gcttiug into gener.?! use in the Middle States. 

 They have produced 12 and e\ en 20 fold in this vicinity the past 

 season; come much earlier than the common, arc milder, and 

 more sure of producing a ciop. Price tj cents each, 60 cts. pci 

 dozen, 



Indian Corn. 



Several varieties of Field Corn, selected with CTeat care, for 

 its earliness and proiluctive quality — also Early Sweet and the 

 Early JelTerson Corn, for the table. 



Garden and Field Seeds. 

 The largest collection andvariety of Garden, Field, Tree and 

 Herb Seeds to be found in New England, at wholesale and retail. 

 The Seeds are all raised in this vtcinily, expressly tor this Es- 

 tablishment, by careful and experienced growers, and are war- 

 ranted pure and fresh. Country traders supplied with boxes of 

 prime seeds, for the retail trade, on liberal terms, A pamphlet 

 catalogue (2d edition) of our Seeds, Trees, *fcc. will be publish- 

 ed in tne course of a fortnight, and forwarded gratis to any on? 

 who will send for it. 



