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NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



April 24, 1829. 



From the New York Farmrr. 



The Climate of the Middle States compared with that 

 of Great Britain, in reference to the productions of 

 Horticulture. By J. Uuel, Es(i. 



Tlie Middle States embrace a latitude of five 

 degrees, from 38° to 43°. Euglaiid is comprised 

 ill about the same extent of latitude, from the j 

 British Channel, in 50°, to the Scottish Border, in j 

 55°. There is, therefore, between the two coun- 1 

 tries, a differeuce in latitude of twelve degrees. — I 

 Local causes condiine, however, to render the dif- [ 

 ference in climate, far less than the difference of, 

 latitude would seem to indicate. Great Britain is 

 an Island, surrounded by the ocean, the tempera- 

 ture of which never being below 32°, serves 

 much to mitigate the severity of the cold which ! 

 is experienced in corresponding latitudes upon ' 

 Continents. The same cause contributes materi- 

 ally to moderate the heats of summer, and to ren- 

 der the an- humid at all seasons. The extremes , 

 of heat in summer, and cold in winter, consequent- 

 ly, are much less severe in England, than in the 

 Middle States, taking the months of vegetation, 

 from the first of April, to the first of November, 

 the mean heat in the Middle States, may be twelve 

 degrees greater than in England ; of the summer 

 months, June, July, and August, eighteen degrees 

 greater ; while the mean tem|)erature of the win- 

 ter months is probably fifteen degrees colder here 

 than in England. These estimates are conjectur- 

 al, Bot having data to render them accurate. 



In testing the adaptation of the climates of the 

 two countries to the various productions of the 

 garden, I shall assume as a general rule, what I 

 believe will not be denied, that plants flourish best, 

 and most fully develope their valuable properties 

 in the temperature and soil in which they were 

 originally jdanted by the hand of nature, and that 

 they deteriorate in proportion as they are removed 

 from their native location. " The American and 

 African plants, saj's Macphail, (Gard.'s Remem- 

 brancer, p. 54,) which are said to be famous in 

 medicine when of the growth of their native soils, 

 yet when they are removed and brought into our 

 climate, (England) though they grow, and even 

 produce their flowers, and ripen their fruit, which 

 is the last jierfection of a plant, when put to trial, 

 it is said by skilful men, they have always been 

 liuind to want their mediciiuil virtues.'' Heat is - 

 as necessary an ag mt in jierfecting the fine flavor ; 

 of American and African fruits, as it is in maturing 

 rJie medicinal virtues of their jilants. Hence, in ' 

 cultivating the fruits of warmer clunates, the Eng- 

 lish gardener is obliged to resort to artificial and ! 

 expensive means to supply the nece.«sary heat ; ' 

 and as these means can only be afforded by the j 

 atti'iient, (he great mass of the English people are 

 necessarily precluded from many vegetable pro- , 

 (luctions whicli rifien here in the open ground.s, } 

 and which are common to oiu- gardens. This will 

 more fully appear in the comparison, which I am 

 about to make of the mode of culture in the two 

 countries, of some of the most piominent products 

 of the garden. I will begin with 



The Jpplc, which, though not strictly a garden 

 production, is one of the most abundant and val- 

 uable fruits in comiiiun use. The apple tree, if 

 not indigenous, has become naturalized to both 

 i-ountries, and grows in the Orkneys as well as on 

 the St Lawrence. The varieties are many, and 

 differ in their habits somewhat, according to the 

 tlioiates in which they originate. The splendid 



Alexander from Russia, and the beautiful little 

 Crab, from Siberia, grow and produce well, both 

 in England and America ; while the Mala Carla, 

 a native of Italy, an apple of high repute, it is 

 thought will not matiue its fruit in England, and 

 the experiment remains to be made with what 

 success it can be cultivated in the Middle States. 

 In Latitude 42° 40' its growth is very little be- 

 fore midsummer, when it becomes strong and vig- 

 orous. The beneficial influence of a dry and hot 

 temperature in maturing the generality, and par- 

 ticularly the higher flavored varieties of this fruit, 

 seems to be generally admitted. In any climate, 

 or in any neighborhood, the juices of the fruit be- 

 come more concentrated and refined in a dry and 

 warm location, than in one which is hunjid and 

 cool. The best ciders come from orchards situat- 

 ed upon dry and hilly lands. Accurate experi- 

 ments, I think, would demonstrate, that the Must 

 of the same apple, say of the Styre or Downton 

 Pippin, is richer in saccharine matter when grown 

 in the Middle States, than when grown in Britain. 

 I have frequently been told by Europeans, and 

 among others by Mr Douglass, the Collector of 

 the London Iloiticultural Society, that our apples 

 greatly excel those of Efigland ; and this is con- 

 firmed by the high price which the former bear 

 in the English Market. Loudon's Gardener's 

 Magazine for March, mentions the importation of 

 a large supply of Newtown Pippins which arrived in 

 bad order, but the best of which, however, sold at 

 2.S. and 3s. per dozen, equal to four and five cents 

 the apple. Some of the finer kinds do not ripen 

 well in the north of England. That either the 

 quantity or quality of this fruit is deficient there, 

 is evidenced by the vast importations from Ameri- 

 ca and France. Salisbury estimated that there 

 were 40,000 bushels of French apples, at onetime 

 in and about Covent Garden Market. I have 

 never heard that apples are cxpoHed from Eng- 

 land. 



The Pear. — All the kinds that grow in England, 

 are believed to do equally well in the Middle i 

 States ; while many varieties which mature their 

 fruit well here in the open grounds, in England 

 require the aid of expensive walls of stone or brick. ! 

 " To bring the finer sorts of pears to perfection in 

 this country, (England) says Macphail, they re- 

 quire to be planted in a border close to a high 

 wall, and to have their branches trained against 

 tlie side of it, about nine or ten inches apart." — 

 (Gardener's Remembrancer.) 



The Peach. — Persia is supposed to be the orig- 

 inal country of the peach, which lies in 30° to 

 40° north Latitude, and whose climate is some- 

 what similar to that of our Southern States 



" The best peaches in Europe are grown at pres- 

 ent in Italy, (Lat. 40 to 45°) and next may be 

 cited those of Montreuil, near Paris, (L. 48.) In 

 England there are but two sorts that come to tol- 

 erable perfection inUhe open air,"(Eiic. of Gar. p. 

 799.) Macphail makes a like remark, (page 13,) i 

 and affirms, that the peach can only be brought' 

 to perfection by wails, glass frames, or peach- 1 

 houses. With us the poach grows freely and j 

 matures its fruit in the open air; and the earlier 

 varieties, which ripen during the heats of August, ' 

 attain to as high perfection at Albany and Bos- 

 ton, as at Philadelphia and Baltimore. 1 



The .Yectarine. — The remarks I have made in I 

 regard to the peach, apply equally to this fruit. — ! 

 It grows freely with us, but the fruit is very liablS 

 to rot on the tree ere it is ripe. Managed as wall 



fruit, as it is in England, it might succeed belter ; 

 though Loudon observes, that it suffers much 

 more from insects, than the peach, and requires 

 greater attention. 



The .flpiicot. — This tree is said to be natural 

 in Asia, b^-tween the 40th and 46th deg. of north 

 Latitude. The Breda and Brussels are occasion- 

 ally planted in England, Loudon tells us, as stand- 

 arils or esjialiers, in warm situations ; and in these 

 States, in fine seasons, produce more highly fla- 

 vored -fruits than when on walls. The other va- 

 rieties are generally planted against walls, (Euc. 

 of Gar. ]). 808.) The stamlard trees do not come 

 into bearing, says Abercronibie, sometimes under 

 ten or twelve years ; hut then the fruit, in a con- 

 genial situation, is abtmdant and of the finest fla- 

 vor. The apricot thrives here where the peach 

 does, and no artificial means are used to ripen its 

 fruit. It fruits when young, but is a shy bearer 

 until it acquires age. 



The Plum, was originally brought from Syria, 

 (Latitude 30 to 35) to Greece, and thence to Italy. 

 Varieties of this fruit are also indigenous in high- 

 er Latitudes, and are found growing wild, in the 

 hedges of England, and the woods and fields of 

 America. Like the apple, the varieties of the 

 plum seem adapted to different climates and Lat- 

 itudes. In England, " the plum is cultivated like 

 other indigenous fruit trees ; the hardier sorts as 

 standards, and the finer varieties against walls." 

 (Eiic. of Gardening, p. 812.) With us the plum, 

 in all its varieties, succeeds well without any arti- 

 ficial aid, and perhaps it does not attain higher per- 

 fection in any part of the world than in the vicin- 

 ity of Albany. It may be remarked, that none of 

 the fruits which I have enumerated are trained 

 upon walls in the Middle States, the climate being 

 sufficiently warm to mature the fruit in an open 

 exposure. The peach is occasionally grown in 

 houses to ensure an early crop of fruit. 



The Cherry, of the cultivated varieties, came 

 first from Pontus, (Lat. 40 to 42°,) on the southern 

 border of the Euxine. It is a hardy tree, and 

 perfects its fruit both in England and the United 

 States. In the former it is often trained to a wall ; 

 yet most kinds, we are told by Loudon, do well as 

 standards. 



The Gooseherry grows wild in Piedmont, (Lat. 

 46 to 47°,) and in America as far north as 68°. — 

 It has been greatly improved by culture in Great 

 Britain, and I believe by artificial varieties ; and 

 we are indebted to that country for all the fine 

 kinds at present cultivated in our gardens. This 

 fruit is grown to greater size, and in finer perfec- 

 tion in Britain, than in America ; and I think the 

 former has deci<ledly the advantage in chmate for 

 its successful cultivation. 



The Grape. — " Farther north of the Equator 

 than 50 degrees of Latitude (says Macphail) the 

 fruit of the vine does not ripen well without some 

 assistance being given to the natural climate. In 

 the Southern Counties of England when it is plant- 

 ed and trained against a brick wall of a south as- 

 pect, where the heat in summer sunshine is some- 

 tunes above 100°, the finer sorts of grapes do not 

 come to perfection, for want of heat, in the most 

 favorable seasons." (Gard. Rem. p. 65.) We do 

 not find, in the British books on gardening, any 

 directions for cultivating tliis fruit, but by the aid 

 of walls, glass frames, and grape houses. The 

 experience of this country has not been sufficient 

 to enable us to judge how far we can cultivate 

 the European varieties ia the open ground. From 



