Vol 6. 



GEiNHSEE FARMER. 



141 



The "Early Purple" is an old French variety. — 

 We believe Mr, Langvvorthy obtained his trees from 

 Mr, Parmentier, a Frenchman, many years ago ; a 

 nurseryman at Brooklyn, L. I. It is described as 

 the " Pourpree hative" by Downing, page 480. — 

 Mr. L. has a large and excellent peach orchard, and 

 his trees this season are bearing an abundant crop. 

 He will undoubtedly reap a rich harvest which he 

 well merits, as a careful and enterprising cultivator. 



Mr. Schenck of Brighton, one of our first and best 

 peach growers, has as usual, a fine crop. He was 

 selling his " Crawford's Early Red''' on the 21st 

 Aug,, for $4 per bushel — this is an excellent and 

 beautiful fruit. Mr. S. has a new variety which he 

 calls " Cooper's Mammoth," a New Jersey seedling, 

 a large and splendid looking fruit, not'ripe when we 

 saw it. His "Sweet Waters" were fine, just ripen- 

 ing. Mr» S. will realize a handsome income from 

 his large and splendid crop of peaches. 



Aug. 27. The "Early Royal George" just ripe 

 in the Mt. Hope Nursery — large, magnificent fruit, 

 uncommonly high flavored, juicy and fine. It should 

 be in every garden where there is room for a peach 

 tree. Nobles' and Jacque's Yellov/ Rare ripe, are 

 just coming in — both are first rate fruits. 



Plums are both scarce and dear, we mean good 

 ones — the sweet Blue Damson were somewhat abun- 

 dant. "Bolmar's Washington," our greatest favor- 

 ite, have been sold at ^5 per bushel and retailed at a 

 cent a piece, but they are gathered before they are 

 ripe. The Daily Democrat tells of having received 

 eome measuring 7 inches. 



We have before us, samples of the " Diamond 

 Plum," produced on a young tree in the Mt. Hope 

 Nursery. This is one of the most productive and 

 largest plums grown, and excellent for cooking, and 

 for these reasons highly valuable. It is oval shaped, 

 dark purple or black color, covered with bloom. The 

 plum is decidedly a favorite fruit with the people of 

 Rochester, and despite the curculio, every fine vari- 

 ety will soon be produced abundantly in our gardens. 



Apricots have been unusually scarce, the curculio 

 took most of the crop to himself. We did not hear 

 of any selling by the peck or bushel, but the few 

 that have come into market, have been retailed at 

 3 cents each. 



THE FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF 

 AMERICA . 

 By A, J. Downing, of Newburgh, N. Y. 



In our last we noticed this work and gave a 

 very ample sketch of its contents. 



Since then we have had more leisure to review it, 

 and feel bound to offer some exceptions to the un 

 qualified remarks which we then made. 



It is always one's duty in speaking of a work of 

 this or any other sort, to speak of it just as it is. 



In the first place, a person who was not aware of 

 the character of this work, and who is in the habit of 

 adopting the literal meaning of words, would sup- 

 pose that " The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America" 

 meant those indigenous to America — but it means 

 no such thing. On the contrary, as the title page 

 lengthily explains, "The culture, propagation, and 

 management, in the garden and orchard, of fruit 

 trees generally ; with descriptions of all the finert 

 varieties of fruit, native and foreign, cultivated in this 

 country." That is what the work treats of. We 

 therefore object to the title, as being in our humble 

 opinion inappropriate, properly belongin™ to a work 

 that Mr. Downing or some one else, some day or 



other may be pleased to make. This however is a 

 pointof minor consequence, any farther than that we 

 desire to have books as well as other things called by 

 their right names — even though their sounds should 

 be on a lower key. Turning from the title page to 

 the preface the author opens thus : 



"A Man born in one of the largest gardens and 

 upon the banks of one of the noblest rivers in Amer- 

 ica, ought to have a natural right to talk about fruit 

 trees." 



We do not by .any means intend to question the 

 truth of this sublime declaration of rights, any more 

 than we would the truth of the declaration of Amer- 

 ican Independence. But we do question the good 

 taste of the author in thus introducing himself among 

 the pomological literati. He lays aside the usual 

 expressions of diffidence, steps out boldly before his 

 audience as we can easily imagine, and shouts out 

 " I was born so and so, gentlemen) therefore I have a 

 natural right to talk." 



Well. There are several ways of doing most 

 things: each one chooses his own. Mr. Downing 

 chose his, so it's none of our business, only we must 

 be permitted to say it is a queer one. For our own 

 part we care not where a man was born, in the gar- 

 den or the garret, on the Hudson or the Rhine, on 

 the hill-top or in rhe valley, in the splendid mansion 

 or the lowly cor, his natural rigid is jusi the same. 

 All that we want of our author is the competency to 

 execute the task he has assumed. 



A Man to prattle about riglils of birth now-a-days 

 cuts, in our ojiinion, a silly figure. But this also con- 

 cerns the author more than us. 



We have alluded to these things, only because 

 they were blemishes that struck us the moment we 

 opened the book, and which we think It only right 

 to mention in this notice. There are other blemish- 

 es and defects, which occur to us as we peruse the 

 book, but we will leave them for future notice. 



{}^ In consequence of a severe illness which has 

 confined us to our room for three weekn past, we 

 have been compelled to defer several seasonable arti- 

 cles intended for this number. P. B. 



For the Geneseo Farmer. 



BURNING LIME WITH STONE COAL. 



Mr. Editor:— (?ould you publish the most appro- 

 ved method of burning lime with stone coal? The 

 farmers of this region have suddenly taken a deter- 

 mination to try lime on their lands. Tiiey have lime- 

 stone in great abundance, and stone coal (bitumin- 

 ous) convenient, but no one here knows how to set 

 a kiln. 



We have thriving, industrious farmers here, (prin- 

 cipally Germans.) The land in these valleys is hea- 

 vy limestone, excellent for wheat and corn. The 

 present season has been very dry, and the frost inju- 

 red much of the rye and some wheat. We read your 

 papers with interest, and profit by their teachings, 



"ONE OF US." 



REMARK : 



Build a kiln in the usual way for burning lime with 

 wood, and lay a thin stratum of coal with a thick one 

 of stone all the way from the arches to within two 

 feet of the top. The quantity of coal to be used 

 will depend on its purity. Enough should be used 

 to burn the lime till it will slake — a larger amount 

 will render the lime all the better, for the coal will 

 supply some minerals necessary to wheat, which pure 

 lime will not furnish, and docs not contain. 



