NEW EIVGI^AlIf® PARMEM. 



Published by John B. Russell, ai JVo. 62 Mirth Market Street, (over the Agricultural fVarehouae). — Thojias G. Fkssende.n, Editor. 



VOL. VII. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1828. 



No.1.5. 



A GRIC U LT URE. 



FOR THE NEW KNGLiND FARMER. 



HORTICULTURE. 



."iIr EniTOR — Having recently received com- 

 plete series of the Transactions of the London Ilor- 

 ticulfural Societtj, of the Annals of the Hort. Society 

 !\t I'aris, anil of Loudon's Gardener's Magazine, I 

 shall (according to your request) from time to time 

 furn;sli such extracts, from thenj, as may seem to 

 ine to he useful to our country, and occasionally 

 extend them to subjects, which are curious and 

 amusing, though not directly appUcable to our 

 gardens. I would here observe, that nearly sev- 

 en-eighths of all the articles in tliese works, are of 

 no use whatever to our horticulturists generally. — 

 It is plain from these publications, that the horti- 

 culture of England is at least 50 years in advance 

 of that of France, and indeed the French writers 

 all virtualh), and some of them explicitly admit it. 

 But the distance between us, and France, or Hol- 

 land, or Germany, or Russia, in horticulture, is im- 

 mense. I beg Messrs Prince, Parmentier and 



port, to wit, that it strongly resembled a 

 but moderate reputation. 



ear of. of good table aijples, compared to the many mill- 

 lions raised, will be fouiid to be small. Even 



The report concludes with these remarks — [sonic of these may Jirove to have been iniported. 

 " This able nurseryman, or cultivator, merits the | The Bahlwin so long and so confidetitly claimed 

 more encouragement, since we find that he has i as a native fruit proiluccd at Wilmington, it is now 



not been lucky in this sort of lottery, since the 

 sum total of his zeal and pains has only procured 

 one single fruit worthy of notice, and to complete 

 his ill luck, even this fruit is likely to be confound- 

 ed with an old well known one, which is indeed a 

 phenomenon more extraordinary, than the pro- 

 durtion even of a new fruit. It is well known 

 tliat our neighbors, t!ie Belgians, have been more 

 successful in these attempts ; but this is nothing, 

 as they say, in comparison icith the inhabitants of 

 .Xorth America, who obtain numerous species from 

 seed." 



It was for the sake of the parts italicized refer- 

 rmg to our success, that I made the above extract, 

 and it was done for the purpose of undeceiving the 

 European cultivators on this subject. It is true, 

 that we hear on every side of new varieties, but 

 wiien examined, nine out of ten prove to have 

 been imported. It is 33 years this season, since I 



otlicrs.to pardon this remark, for I excctit their . , .. .• . i .■ i. it 



,, ^ , ,. , r , , ,- t turned my attention to horticulture, and 1 am not 



excellent establishments. I speak onlv of the , , i, . i ui . ui »i 



' - able to recollect any valuable table pear, the evi- 



general state of horticulture — of the general neg 

 lect of this art, compared with its high state of re- 

 finement in Europe, of which these works afford 

 unquestionable evidence. I shall cite some proofs 

 of this general diffusion of horticultural taste and 

 knowledge, with the hope that it may excite in us 

 a spirit of ouuilation. The taste for horticulture 

 furnishes as correct a standard of the refinement 

 of a nation, as the taste for the fine arts — if it is 

 not as intellectual, it is much more comprehen- 

 sive, and is capable of affording gratification to 

 greater numbers. It is also intimately connected 

 with health, and I am not disposed to admit that 

 a taste for botany and floriculture, is not as well 

 adapted to jiurify and elevate the mind, as even 

 the fine arts themselves. 



A ROXBURY FARMER. 

 Roxhury, Oct. 26, 1828. 



Report of M. Du Petit Thouars on three 

 PEARS submitted to HIS EXAMINATION. (An- 

 nates d' Horticulture o' Paris, Feb. 1828, p. 86. 

 The object, which I have in view in calling the 

 attention of our cultivators to this report, is to 

 show them the attention which is now bestowed 

 in Europe, on the names of their fruits, and the 

 caution with which they admit new ones. 



Of the three pears submitted to M. Du Petit 

 Thouars as new varieties, he decided without hes- 

 itation, that two of them were old and well known 

 ones. As to the third offered by M. Alfroy, some 

 doubts arose, but on the whole he thought it bore 

 a strong resemblance to an old well known pear, 

 the Tarquin. M. Alfroy, the owner of extensive 

 nurseries, which had been in his family for many 

 generations, attempted to follow the career of M. 

 Van Mons, of Luxembourg, in producing new va- 

 rieties fi-om seed. Out of 300 plants, which he 

 selected as promising the best, judging from their 

 tbliage, only one produced a pear, which he tho't 

 >vorthy of presentation ; and this was the one on 

 which M. Du Petit Thouars made the above re- 



deiice of whose origin in this country is to be 

 deemed unquestionable, except the Seckle, and a 

 pear raised by Mr Johonnot at Salem, not to be 

 elevated to the first rank, though very desirable. 

 A sTiall winter pear, probably native, and sajdto 

 bi; >,'ood, on the estate of Mr Lewis, at RoxouJj'. 

 A very pleasant summer pear, said to be the pro- 

 duce of a Juneating, sent to me by Dr Alfred Bay- 

 hes, of Taunton. And, a fine pear, raised on the 

 estate of the late Hon. Mr Gore, which is probably 

 a new fruit, and which seems to he between the 

 Doyenne Blanc and the Doyenne Gris (in English, 

 the white and brown St Michaels). These are all 

 which have come to my knowledge. I am aware 

 that Wm. Prince, Esq. of Flushing, claims to be 

 the producer of some others, but not having seen 

 the fruit, I am unable to speak of their merits. — 

 My object in calling the attention of our cultiva- 

 tors to this topick, is to elicit information, and I 

 most earnestly solicit it from all parts of New 

 England, of any esteemed varieties of pears, to- 

 gether with the evidence that they are native pro- 

 ductions. Our cultivators have adopted what I 

 consider an erroneous rule, as to fruits which ap- 

 pear to them to be new. They assume, that eve- 

 ry pear, the origin of which they cannot trace, 

 must be a native ; but the reverse of that rule is 

 the most rational. Every fine pear should be pre- 

 sumed to have been imported, unless its origin can 

 be distinctly traced ; and I know no better proof 

 of the reasonableness of this rule, than the experi- 

 ments of Mr Alfroy, who obtained, in the favorite 

 country of the pear, only one tolerable one out of 

 300. Even Dr Van Mons could obtain only 30 

 or 40 out of 800 ; and Mr Knight's success has 

 also been limited, though both these gentlemen 

 adopted the artificial mode of impregnation. 



As to apples, there is no doubt, that we have 

 produced man)' new varieties of great merit, 

 which is not at all a matter of surprise, since for 

 200 years, it was our practice, to raise our or- 

 chards for cider, without grafting. Yet the hst 



affirmed, was iuii)ortcd. 



Tlie peach more readily produces good varie- 

 ties from the stone, and yet 1 doubt whether ar>y 

 nursery can produce any |)eachos, which to a jury 

 of connoisseurs will be pronounced cipial to the 

 Van guard. Noblesse, R oval Kensington, Red and 

 White Magdalen, or the Swaalsh. AVc have pro- 

 duced a nectarine larger and more beautiful than 

 any European one, but I cannot think its flavor 

 quite equal to the white fleshed varieties of Eu- 

 rope. I hope this may lead to discussion, inquiry, 

 and improvement, which is the great end of all 

 hivestigation. 



Though we have not as yet produced many fine 

 fruits, yet there is no country in Europe in which 

 Eurojieaii fruits have as fine flavor, or are as 

 abundant as in ours. 



ruU THt NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



SMl'T IN CORN. 



JIr Editor — Your correspondent E. on tlie 

 subject of smut in corn, (see Wo 6 of your current 

 vol.) has, in his outset, in my appreliension, point- 

 ed out the true cause for the unusual quantity of 

 " smut ears," nauiQly, that " the fields of corn 

 never looked mo-'i prjyntising." The season, and 

 the soil which ijrodlice the- greatest quantity of 

 corn, will, according to my observation, occasion 

 a correspondent average of smut. In my view, 

 the cause is to be found in the exuberance of the 

 fluid which forms the kernel. The vessels are 

 surcharged and burst before the aliment can be 

 duly concocted and disposed of. As far as hu- 

 man agency can avail, it is in the power of every 

 farmer to lessen the evil. But in doing this most 

 effectually, he would find the remedy much worse 

 than the disease. This remedy is already too 

 conspicuous on our farms. This evil, however, 

 may be essentially lessened consistently with rais- 

 ing a great crop. Having had recent experience 

 on this subject, I consider it my duty to respond 

 to your call, although, of late, I have occupied an 

 undue portion of your interesting and useful pa- 

 per. 



Eight years ago I cultivated a field of corn, for 

 which I obtained a premium. To a liberal supply 

 of strong manure jiloughed in, I added the usual 

 quantity of the same to the hill. The season was 

 uncommonly favorable to vegetation. The gi-ow tli 

 was rapid and vigorous. The stalk was large 

 and prolific in suckers. As the car formed, the 

 smut became conspicuous. I neglected to dis- 

 lodge it until the fungus had burst through the 

 husk in an unsightly mass. When consigned to 

 my hog yard, it amounted to fifty wheelbarrow 

 loads per acre. Notwithstanding this enormous 

 drawback, my field produced the largest crop I 

 have ever raised. I have cultivated the same 

 field in corn the present season, with no variation 

 except in the dressing. My coarse stable manure 

 was spread and ploughed in as before. The hills 

 were supplied from the compost made last year in 



