258 



NEW England farmer, 



FEBRUARY 26, 1S34. 



tKe height of a hundred and thirty feet, the upper 

 part of which may he seen from the city of Sego- 

 via at six miles distance. 



Sucli was the state of Horticulture, as applied to 

 the disposition of grounds and gardens, in the time 

 of Louis XIV. A hetter taste soon after grew up 

 in England, and spread itself thence over all parts 

 of Europe. The improvement lay in substituting 

 a more free and direct imitation -of nature, for the 

 formal arrangements and fantastic decoralions that 

 were in use hefore. Most of the grounds and gar- 

 dens that have been laid out in Europe within, the 

 last half century, have been disposed upon this 

 plan, of which very beautiful specimens are to be 

 found, not only in England, France, and Germany, 

 but in Sweden, Poland, Austria, and Russia. The 

 Wood at the Hague, an enclosure of about a mile 

 in length, and half a mile in width, is justly con- 

 sidered as one of the most remarkable of the num- 

 ber. . 



Of the grounds, ornamented in the purer taste 

 of the present day, that have fallen under my ob- 

 servation, those of the royal residence ofArtAN- 

 juez, in Spain, are, however, the most beautiful. 

 This is the place where the Court usually repair to 

 pass the months of May and June, and it seems to 

 realize, as nearly as fact can be supposed to ap- 

 proach to romance, the description of the Happy 

 Valley in Rasselas. It is situated about thirty miles 

 from Madrid, at the confluence of the noble river 

 Tagus, which is here of very moderate size, with 

 one of its smaller branches, called the Jarama. 

 The country in this part of Spain, though not bar- 

 ren, is destitute of wood, and wears, through the 

 greater part of the year, a parched and dry appear- 

 ance. After passing over' several miles of this 

 monotonous landscape, you descend into an exten- 

 sive valley of six or eight miles in length and two 

 or three in breadth, covered with the most luxuri- 

 ant vegetation, and laid out entirely in ground and 

 gardens ; in the midst of which are embosomed 

 the buildings that form the royal residence and the 

 neighboring village. The two divisions, of which 

 ornamented grounds are naturally composed, that 

 is, a flower and fruit garden, and a park tastefully 

 planted and disposed, are here combined in high 

 perfection. In the immediate neighborhood of the 

 Palace, are two gardens devoted chiefly to flower : , 

 planted with alleys of elms, sycamores, cypresses, 

 acacias, and various other sorts of ornamental tires, 

 which, in this rich ami well-watered soil, grow 

 luxuriantly, and rise, in some cases, to a very great 

 height. The rest of the valley is laid out into open 

 lawns, intersected by roads and variegated hy 

 clumps of trees, which occasionally thicken into a 

 sort of finest, particularly at the point where the 

 junction of the rivers presents a scene, similar in 

 kind, and probably nut inferior in beauty, to the 

 celebrated Meeting of the Waters in the Vale of 

 Avoca, in Ireland. From this point, the Tagus 

 proceeds with tin increased volume of water, and, 

 after washing, a few miles below, the htise of the 

 lofty precipitous rock, which forms the site of the 

 old Gothic eapitol of Toledo, pursues its COUl'Se of 

 about four hundred miles to the ocean. 



During my residence in Spain, a bold adventu- 

 rer set forth in a steam-boat from Araujuez, for 

 the purpose of exploring the river from that place 

 to its mouth. It was the first lime that a steam- 

 boat hail ever been seen upon its waters, at least, 

 in the interior of the Peninsula. The enterprise 

 occupied about two months ; regular bulletins of 

 its progress were published in the newspapers, and 



it was evidently regarded as a matter of some na- 

 tional importance. Compare this state of the in- 

 ternal communications in a kingdom that has been 

 occupied ever since the earliest dawn of history, 

 with the hundred and fifty magnificent steam-boats 

 that are now regularly employed upon the Ohio 

 and Mississippi, and you have at least one remark- 

 able fact, — whatever objections may be urged 

 against them,— in favor of the influence of liberal 

 political institutions. [To be continued* 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



NEW IMPORTED PRODUCTS. 



Lin. Bot. Garden, Flushing, Feb, 4, 1832. 



T. G. Fessenden — Dear Sir, We send you a 

 description of some of the new Agricultural and 

 Horticultural products recently imported by us, 

 extracted from Loudon's Magazine. 



The Hopetown Oat attains a greater height than 

 any other cultivated variety ; while, from the na- 

 ture of the straw, it is not prone to lodge, and is 

 much relished by cattle. It ripens, early, yield* 

 fine grain, which is not apt to be shed by the wind, 

 and so congenial are the habits of the plant to a 

 dry soil and climate that an experienced farmer 

 compared the Potato and Hopetown Oats growing 

 under such circumstances in the same field, to a 

 young person in the last stage of consumption, 

 and one of the same age in rude health. Thus the 

 Hopetown variety combines it> itself all the valu- 

 able properties of the Oat tribe, and seems admira- 

 bly calculated either for the sun scorched plains of 

 the south, or the moist cattle-rearing districts oX 

 the west and north. jA 



Taylor's Forty-fold, or Crimson Nonsuch Potcfy. 

 The former name is given them in consequence i I 

 their yielding forty times the weight of the quart. 



end of April hist, and in the month ol Ma} ilia 

 pot was removed to the flower-garden, and broken, 

 and the parts removed. It was first planted in the 

 green-house as a security against frost ; but this 

 appears to have been unnecessary, as the plant litis 

 stood the frost remarkably well, and the leaves on 

 the 5th instant, before the tubers weie dug up, 

 were quite green. The tuber planted was less 

 than an ounce in weight, and the tubers produced 

 were mote than ninety in number, and weighed 

 altogether upwards of 4 lbs. They were in a 

 space the diameter of which was nine inches and 

 the deptH six. The stems were between twenty 

 and thirty in number, succulent, and of a red- 

 dish color. The flowers appeared in August and 

 consisted of five petals, crenate at the edge, and of 

 a yellow color. The leaves are trifoliate, the leaf- 

 lets are inversely heart-shaped. 



" The experiment of cultivating this tuber may 

 be considered as hitherto very successful, and when 

 we consider that the common potato was long con- 

 fined to gardens, producing roots which were ex- 

 ceedingly small, and was far less promising than 

 the Oxalis crenala at present appears, we may 

 reasonably anticipate that it may prove a valuable 

 addition to our culinary vegetables, and that hy 

 skilful management the tubers may be greatly in— 

 creasi d in size." 



McEwan's Early Cabbage. This variety of Cab- 

 bage is earlier by 14 days than any kind known in 

 Europe. After being cut the stalks should be al- 

 lowed to remain in the ground, and they will pro- 

 duce from four to six heads, which will be fit for 

 cutting by the time the Early York arrives at per- 

 fection. 



We trust the acquisition of these desirable 

 seeds and roots may be useful to the country at 

 irge. Your most obdt. 



Wm. Prince & Sons. 



tity planted, each planting, which they have an 



nually done for the last three seasons. They are j „ 



beautifully white and uncommonly mealy, and ! are | MA g g HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



in perfection for use from the beginning ol July to 



January. 



Oralis crenata, a culinary vegetable. " This 

 plant is cultivated abundantly in the gardens about 

 Lima as a salad, for which purpose its succulent 

 stems and acid flavor seem strongly to recommend 

 it.' It grows freely in our open borders, is readilj 

 increased by cutting as well as by its tubers which 

 require to be taken up and preserved from frost in 

 the manner potatoes are. The tubers are produced 

 in considerable plenty, and are often two inches 

 long, and an inch in diameter. When raw the} 

 are slightly sub-acid ; hut on being boiled they lose 

 this acidity entirely, and taste very much like the 

 potato, fur which they might form an agreeable 

 substitute at the tables of the curious." 



The following additional details, the result of 

 further experiments, are from the pen of James 

 Mitchell, Esq. under date of January 10th, 1S33 : 



'■1 was Olie of a party where some tubers of 

 this plant were cooked, by boiling for ten minutes; 

 and they were op trial, declared by all present to 

 he more agreeable in their flavor than the common 

 potato. It is not possible to give an idea of the 

 flavor in words ; hut if I were to attempt it, 1 

 should say it was that of the potato slightly com- 

 bined with the chestnut. I have been informed 

 that the tuber of the Oxalis crenata was brought 

 from South America hy Mr. David Douglas, and 

 was planted in 1831, hy Mr. Lambert. One ot 

 the tubers obtained from Mr. Lambert was planted 

 by Mr. Hirst in a pot in the green-house, in the 



EXHIBITION OP FRUITS. 



Saturday, Feb. 15th, 1834. 



By Mr. Samuel Hyde, Newton, the Hubhardston 

 Nonsuch apple ; and two sorts, names unknown, 

 the scions of one of which was received from De- 

 troit. 



By E. Bartletf, Esq. the Lady apple (Pomrne 

 d'Api), and the Nonsuch, a valuable winter apple, 

 origin unknown, different from the apple of the 

 same name cultivated in England. 



By Messrs. Winships, the Gardner Sweeting. 



Scions of the Wilbur Pear were received, taken 

 from the original tree, by M. II. Ruggles, Fsq. Fall 

 River, to whom the thanks of the Society were 

 given*, and were distributed among the member* 

 of the Society. 



Saturday, Feb. 22d, 1S34. 



By Messrs. Winships, Snow apple; and one sort, 

 name unknown. 



By Mr. Pope, of Quincy, -Golden or Minot's Rus- 

 set. 



By Dr. Shurtlelf, Green Sweeting, a valuable 

 productive winter apple, keeps till May. 



By R. Manning, Ortley apple, (Woohnan's Long 

 Pippin); and the Beurre of Boihviller, this pear 

 requires further proof, before it can be recom- 

 mended for cultivation. 



By E. Phinney, Esq. sweet winter apples, from 

 Mr. Samuel D. Davenport of Ilopkintou, and the 

 Faster Beurre Pear of the Pomological Magazine, 



