266 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



March 13, 1829. 



FOB THE KEW ENGL.AND FARMEU. 



RURAL ECONOMY. 



It is among our youtliful reiiiiiiisceiiees that hav- 

 ing a moJicimi of money in ])ossi.'ssion \vc became 

 anxious to invest it, anti finding one ready to re- 

 lieve us of the burden ami to offer us security in 

 exchange, which we deemed by its outward ap- 

 pearance and bulk to be very cheap, we parted 

 with our money, and at oiu" leisure discovered, we 

 had indeed paid too denrjor our wliistte. 



The practice of buying things because they 

 were cheap has grown up with us, and we arc, 

 even at a considerably advanced stage of om- 

 earthly pilgrimage, apt to do the like foolisli thing 

 for which we reprimand our children, not having 

 the fear of our own example before our eyes. 



You would not suppose, Mr Editor, that a man 

 who had shivered tiirough forty winters would be 

 so led into temptation by the example of others 

 while smarting under the twinges of past impru- 

 dences. But so it is, and we find, our natural 

 propensity to indulge in buying what we do not 

 want, because it is cheap, as strong as ever, while 

 prudence loudly admonishes us to desist. 



There are some things, sir, that are not so gen- 

 erally known, or so generally in use as they would 

 be if they were known, that are not only cheap 

 but useful, and do not therefore come under our 

 rule of exceptions. We once became the posses- 

 sor (and still retain it, and value it as a very con- 

 venient article in our household establishment,) of 

 your newly invented patent lamp boiler. " Many 

 a time and oft" have we with the aid of a small 

 quantity of high wines, performed for ourselves 

 the culinary act, that would in the ordinary way 

 have cost us half its price in fuel, and we have 

 thus been regaled with our stewed oysters, inde- 

 pendent of the aid of other hands, the exercise of 

 the inventive genius of our domestic operator. — 

 AVe believe that no one who has laid out his 

 money for the lamp boiler has ever thought he 

 paid too dear for his whistle. 



But, Mr Editor, we have often laughed in our 

 sleeve when we have been indulged the pleasure 

 of roaming through the shaded walks, and ad- 

 miring the improvements made by a friend of 

 ours, in his extensive, and well stocked grounds, 

 to perceive that with all his determination to 

 avoid the evil that is so besetting — he had too un- 

 wittingly beconir the purchaser of a very consid- 

 erable quantity of what were sold for grape vines, 

 but which in reality were only layers of one year's 

 preparation, and with which our market was in- 

 onduted the last year. He had taken great jjains 

 to set them out, and great care to jjreserve them 

 alive. But when I saw them in autumn, nearly 

 one-half of them were dry as oven wood, and 

 would have ignited as freely as chop sticks, thinks 

 we to ourself, for we did not like to recall unpleas- 

 ant recollections, you have paid too dear for your 

 whistle, aWtough he bought them chenp. 



We would therefore hereby admonish all and 



sounding names — that if they produce fruit at all, 

 will produce such as will set their teeth on edge, 

 and cool their regard for the delightful employ. 



growing more vigorous than the others, and show- 

 ing longer and handsomer leaves, induced him to 

 let it remain — it has been in bearing twenty years 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAXD FARMER. 



ment a well ordered garden, of j)roperly selected j he has likewise suckers from this tree, which have 

 fruits, would furnish tlnmi. CAUTION. come into bearing. Last fall all his trees hung as 



I full of handsome pea^-s as those of Mr Wij.liams. 



The land is now under cultivation. 



MiNOT Pear — size middling, very fair, not sub- 

 NATIVE PEARS. jcct to blast, formed something like the Ambrette, 



Mr Editor — The New England Farmer of j not indented on the top, steuj long, skin yellow, 

 October 31st, 1828, contains an excellent article Ic'sh white, buttery and juicy, a pleasant and 

 on fruits, by the Roxbury Farmer, giving an invi- 1 rather sweetish pear, has been in good repute in 

 tation for every one to contribute his mite, in fur- j <his vicinity but is now on the decline, since bet- 

 nishing information of good and fine fruits, ])artic- j tcr fruit is introduced, sells tolerably well, a pretty 

 u\a.r\y native varieties. I cheerfully join in this j good and constant bearer, conies in eating from 

 request, feeling, however, iny inability to do the i the middle of October to the middle of November, 

 suiiject justice. I hope every one will feel the Wc believe this fruit to be a native of Dorchester, 



as we have its history from undoubted authority. 



force of the above reipiest, by doing as well as 

 ho can ; this being one of the great objects for 

 establishing the Horticultural Society. Few pos 



The |)arent tree of all in tlie vicinity (which arc 

 very numerous) is now growing on tlie old .Minot 



as the Roxbury Farmer. But it does not thence 

 follow that others should say nothing ; plain facts 

 can be stated. All readily acknowledge that Johh 

 LowF.LL, and S. G. Perkins, Esqrs, have done 

 more to make known and disseminate the new 

 varieties of fruits from Europe, and bring them 

 into cultivation, that they may be made common 

 to every lover of good fruits, than any two indi- 

 viduals in New England. 



Lewis Pear. The native pear of Mr John 

 Lewis, in Roxbury. I have had some acquaint- 

 ance with it, for ten years past. I then visited it 

 in the fall, found it loaded with fruit ; some mid- 

 dling large, and pretty fair, more under middling ; 

 some bhisteil, and many small ones ; I then con- 

 cluded not to take from it any scions in the spring. 

 Having repeatedly heard of its selling well in the 

 market, under the name of Roxbury St Germain, 

 as many said it resembled it, in flesh and flavor, 

 I looked at it again five years after, at the same 

 time of the year ; the same remarks that applied 

 the first time, would apply the second. The tree 

 was entirely too full ; this 1 consider a great fault, 

 as I never knew any one undertake thinning a 

 large tree, though frequently the case in small 

 ones. Both times I saw the tree it stood in grass 

 ground, under common cuhivation. Last fall I 

 was in the highly cultivated vegetable fields of Mr 

 Aaron D. Williams, in Roxbury ; there was a 

 fine young |)ear tree, grafted from the above men- 

 tioned tree, in full bearing (about three bushels on 

 it) fair and large size fruit, also bearing the same 

 the year previous — size and form like the old fash- 

 ioned yellow orange jiear, rather longer, not so 

 large round ; color of the skin, dark green and 

 coarse, indented on the top, with a long stem, not 

 sightly, flesh whitish, very melting and juicy, as 

 much so as the St Germain was formerly, resem- 

 bling it also in taste, but not so highly flavored ; 

 comes in eating the middle of November, and con- 

 tinues sound until the middle of February, if 

 singular, to beware of this besetting sin of buying ! spread in a dry, cool cellar; sold quick in the 



sess the knowledge and power of expressing ideas yi""', (so called) and is one hundred and twenty- 

 so elegantly, and describing fruits so handsomely ) five years old. The late Deacon Pierce, who 



what they do not want, because it is cheap, j^nd 

 we especially advise those v/ho are already " in 

 the full tide of successful experiment," as was said 

 by a deceased statesman, as well as those who 

 have just embarked in the pleasing employment 

 of orchardising to beware how they buy a hun- 

 dred trees, vines, or shrubs, because they are 

 cheap, when one-tenth of the quantity properly 

 selected would be worth a cartload with high 



market last fall, at four dollars per bushel. It is 

 a variety worth cultivating, and should, I think, he 

 called the Lewis Pear. The tree is vigorous and 

 handsome ; branches long, bending in form, re- 

 sembling the weeping willow, a constant bearer. 

 I have strong reasons for believing this a native 

 pear ; as Mr John Lewis told me, the above pear 

 tree sprang from sotne common button jiear seeds, 

 planted many years since. The plant of this tree j their homes. 



was known as a man of strict veracity, was born 

 and lived near this farm eighty-five years. He 

 has stated many times, that the owner, Mr Minot. 

 informed him it was a seedling. Mr Pierce like- 

 wise remarked, there had been no perceptible 

 change in the size of the tree, for the preceding 

 sixty-flve years. Recently I measured it, and 

 found the diameter sixteen inches. It has a good 

 lornied head ; and stands in a rich soil and well 

 )rotected. It has the appearance of an old tree, 

 but no strong marks of decay in body or branches. 

 The tree in my garden, the scion part which is 

 grafted five feet from the ground with scions from 

 the original tree, measures twenty-five inches in 

 diameter and has much more the appearance of 

 decay, than the parent tree. I have never heard 

 the history of this tree doubted, during my twen- 

 ty years' residence in this town. 



Andrews Pear, — sometimes called Ajiory or 

 Gibson Pear, names of succeeding occupants of 

 the place, in Court street, Boston, from which this 

 |)ear has been introduced. This most excellent 

 variety is now known, and will be largsly culti- 

 vated for its good properties, as a full and con- 

 stant bearer, not blasting in the country. Mr 

 Henry Aporews, of Boston, (whose father made 

 us acquainted with this fruit, informed me, it was 

 removed from Dorchester, between forty and for- 

 ty-five years since, from which tree others have 

 been cultivated now bearing fruit. The above 

 tree has been dead, ten years, owing to circum- 

 stances connected with its unfavorable situation. 

 We should be highly pleased to discover this, a 

 native fruit, but more probably shall find it an im- 

 ported variety. S. DOWNER. 



Dorchester, March 6, 1S29. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



DRAWINGS OF HORSES. 



Mr Editor — I am pleased to find that the 

 practice is becoming more common among the 

 owners of fine animals, of publishing likenesses of 

 such as are celebrated. This i)lan of .sending- 

 forth nuiltiplied copies of a correct likeness, has its 

 advantages to the owner by making an animal 

 well known. And to breeders it is a saving of 

 much time and trouble, enabling those at a dis- 

 tance to judge of the merits of an animal, and 

 whether adapted to their wants without leaving 



