WEW ElV^tAWB FAKMEK. 



Published by John B. Russell, at M. 52 JYorth Market Street, (at the Agricultural frarehousc).-TnoMj.^~^V^s;^i:^^^r^i:;;. '' 



VOL. YII. 



I 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, JULY 3, 1829. 



No. 50. 



HORTICULTURE. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FRENCH PLANTS. 



Mr Russell. — As some of your subscribers 

 liave jirobably luaile great additions to tiieir plants 

 by purchases from Messrs Felix & Co., wlio, it 

 will be recollected, came over from France, this 

 spring, witli a most unique and unrivalled collec- 

 tion of plant.s,* it is liiglily desirable that a des- 

 cription of the plants, as they flower, may be com- 

 municated to you for publication in your valuable 

 paper. A SUBSCRIBER. 



FOR THE KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



5 Liniiiean Botanic G.irden, near 

 ( New York, June 20, 1829. 

 Mr Editor — Both you and our esteemed friend 

 Mr Downer, having been desirous to obtain infor- 

 niatioH relative to the origin and properties of the 

 " Bleecker's Meadow pear," I transmit you the fol- 

 lowing account of it. This pear was originally 

 procured from the farm of Colonel Wynkoop, of 

 Bucks County, Pennsylvania, being a seedling 

 found in his meadow, and from that circumstance 

 was called by him ''Meadow pear." It was 

 brought thence by a relative of his, Mr Martin 

 ScHENK, of this Island, and grafts were dissemin- 

 ated from the trees planted on his farm. Several 

 gentlemen now have this pear in bearing, and 

 two large ones are growing on a farm not far dis- 

 tant from my residence. Leonard Bleecker, 

 Esq., a gentleman distinguished for liis love of 

 horticulture, and for bis liberality in imparting any 

 valuable varieties of fruit to others, presented 

 grafts of this pear to several of bis friend.*, and it 

 was by them called " Bleecker^s Meadow peor" — so 

 much for its origin. In regard to growth the tree 

 has much resemblance to the Seckel, and its bark 

 and general appearance when young, so closely 

 assimilate as not t(i be easily distinguished. Its 

 growth, however, is much more vigorous, making 

 at least three feet of wood to two of the Seckei, 

 and often more. I am also informed, however, 

 by Mr Bleecker, that the tree when it becomes 

 large, does not assume that compact and erect 

 regular form in its head that so distinguishes the 

 Seckel, but that the branches are more expanded, 

 and much less erect. One tree in a garden near 

 Newburgh, bore fruit the fourth year from the 

 graft — the fruit does not hang in clusters as he 

 Seckel does, but its period of ripening is the same 

 — its flavor is delicious, and it is a melliMg frui; — 

 it should, however, be plucked before it softens, 

 and be placed in. the house to mature and become 

 mellow — in point of size it is larger than the 

 Seckel, and in form resembles the Early Sudar 

 pear, (not the Sugar Top, or July pear, which 

 some call Sugar pear) — before it softens it is green 

 with a little brown or russet on the sun siile. 1 

 am fully of opinion that the Seckel is one of the 

 parents of this new pear, and as I consider it a 

 very valuable addition to our native fruits, I have 

 been thus particular in the details, and cannot omit 

 here the passing remark, that in propotiion to the 



.experiments made in our couritry, in roaring seed- 

 ling trees from the finest fruits, after an intcrmi.\- 

 ) ture of the pollen, or otherwise, they have been 

 attended with far more than a comjiarative suc- 

 cess with those made in Europe — and every new 

 devclopoment of our horticultural improvements 

 seems to add new proofs to the opinion I have al- 

 ways entertained, that none of her productions 

 will deteriorate in America. 



Your obedient servant, | 



WM ROBERT PRINCE. 



From ihe American Sentinel. 



Vide their Catalogue. 



POTATOES. 



People differ more about planting potatoes, than 

 anything that I know of; for if good land is well 

 prepared and manured, it is not diflicult to raise 

 a good crop, in a common season, even if you 

 pl.int them whole or cut them, whether you plant 

 few or many. 



I have known people to j)lant from 1 bushel to 

 40, on an acre of land— and each was satisfied 

 that their plan was best. » 



One man who had not more potatoes than he 

 wanted to eat, cut out the chits and planted those 

 only, one bushel of which planted an acre, savin" 

 the body of the potatoes for ordinary uses : his 

 land being well prepared, the produce was more 

 than 100 bushels. 



Another man who had practised farming until 

 he was 21 years of age, and then went to college, 

 ? id became a great man, having seen, that pota- 

 oes would produce most when planted whole, 

 (contrary to his ideas in younger life,) he thought 

 proper to try what he could do. He prepared an 

 acre of excellent land, by ploughing it thorough- 

 ly, and manuring it highly, then ridged it by turn- 

 ing two furrows together, to cover the manure, 

 then planted it with large whole potatoes, within 

 one foot of each other, in continued rows on the 

 ridges, which he did not cross with the plough, 

 in hoeing, and it took 40 bushels to [ilant his acre, 

 the cost of which was 50 cents per bushel, 

 amounting to $20 for bis seed. He had a large 

 crop of jiOtatoeS, but not so large as he would 

 have had by planting 20 bushels in the same 

 manner, with potatoes not more than haif as 

 large, or by placing the same potatoes two feet 

 apart ; or by placing them two feet apart, and half 

 as large, making only ten bushels to the acre. 



I sometimes plant from 8 to IG bushels to the 

 acre, according to the size of the potatoes used for 

 the jiurpose. 



When people try experiments, I think it is best 

 to do it fairly, and to use their reason. And it is 

 a good method to try different modes, and not be 

 so much in favor of any old ])ractice, as to put a 

 stone in one end of a bag of grain to carry on a 

 horse to mill, or to cut potatoes, because your 

 father did ; though very many might amend, by 

 doing as their fathers did, especially in eating 

 and drinking. AN OLD FARMER. 



HEALTH. 



Wc once knew a boy who spent a great part 

 of his time in laying plans to break out of prison, 

 calculating that if lie should ever happen to be 



confined he should then derive a benefit from his 

 present labors. One day his father saw him at 

 work, and being informed of the object ho had in 

 view, told him he'ihought 'it would be a much 

 more profitable business to study to keep out than 

 to break out after he had once got in.' This was 

 i*'Jod advice, and is worthy of being followed, 

 inasmuch as it may, with a slight alteration, be 

 made to apply to numerous' other situations in life 

 I than that of prisoners. This is particularly the 

 case in regard to the preservation of liealth. It is 

 much easier, as well as more profitable to avoid 

 exposure to evening air and wet feet than to be 

 confined five or six weeks with a burning fever. 

 It is also much easier to caution children ajrainst 

 eating green apples and other kinds of "trash, 

 which arc within their reach at this season of the 



year, than it is to cure them of the dysentery. 



It has been said, and we doubt not truly, that 

 more than half of the diseases which prevail in 

 our climate in the warm season, might be prevent- 

 ed even by ordinary care. Among the means to 

 be employed to preserve health, the habit, or if 

 we may so say, the virtue of cleanliness demands 

 the highest })lacc ; and to a want of it may be 



traced many of the ills to which ' flesh is heir.' 



In all the melancholy instances where sickness 

 has visited our Atlantic cities in the course of the 

 last twelve years, we have good authority for say- 

 ing that the contagion originated in such parts of 

 those cities as are notorious for Llie filtli of the 

 streets, and their inhabitants. In the country, 

 where dwellings are unconnected, and where a 

 pure air circ jiutcs freely, we are less liable to suf- 

 fering from the carelessness of our neighbors than 

 residents of more coirpact places, but the safety of 

 every family in an eminent degree depends onthc 

 care and cleanliness of its head. AH decayed 

 animal and vegetable substances should be remov- 

 ed from the vicinity of dwellings ; stagnant water 

 should be drained off, and the cellars freed from 

 rotten apjiles, potatoes, onions, &c. 



Another very important means of prescrvin" 

 health where it is enjoyed, and restoring it where 

 it is wanting, is, to sprinkle quick lime on the bot- 

 tom of the cellars, and in all the drains and vaults 

 contiguous to houses. So effectual is this safe- 

 guard in preventing disease, that a highly respect- 

 able gentleman in this vicinity, informs us that for 

 several years after he commenced honsc-keepin"- 

 some one or more of his family bad a regular run 

 of fever ; after a time he built a house, and con- 

 sequently a quantity of lime was lying in and 

 around his residence, but no sickness visited his 

 family. In three of the six subsequent years he 

 had oi'casion to use lime, and in each of those 

 years his family enjoyed perfect health, while in 

 the other three some of the family were sick. He 

 is so well convinced, from these circumstances 

 that lime is beneficial, that he now no more thinks 

 of being without it, than he thinks of getting 

 along without bread. We hope others of our 

 readers will try it, and have no doubt but they 

 will feel themselves amply repaid for their ex- 

 pense and trouble. Indeed, we will warrant it to 

 be an effectual i.revemive against all those disor- 

 ders for which ardent sjiirits are an effectual cure. 

 Williamstown Advocate. 



