NEW ENGL. AND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY J. B. RUSSELL, AT NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warehouse.)— T. G. FESSENDEA, EDITOR. 



VOL,. X. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 24, 1831. 



NO. 6. 



® (Q sa 3ia; w sr a vs ix a a © sj s ■ 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARilIER. 



Mr Fessenden — Will you permit ine to employ 

 a rainy ihiy in si'leclini; a few hints from llie la.st 

 number of Loudon's Gardener's Magazine wliirli 

 may amuse those who have not access to that 

 publication. 



The present season (in Great Britain) has been vouiliouse. 

 in almost all respects the same as with us. It was bor of the Transactions. 



avail ourselves of the heat left in the smoke, after ailvaiitage to others as we 

 It h.is passed the boiler. He proposes to have ( formeil oji this subject, I ■ 



as myself to be in- 

 to make inquiry 

 the cost of cover- 

 < .1 T J If ■ , , o • , I ,- -parisun with good shin- 



of the London Horiicultural Society's J gles, and 1000 square foet of roof, and respecting 



t.'ie best mode of putting it on, also the cost ol" 



forward, and the prospect of fruit was fine. But 

 on the seventh of May the wind came round to 

 northeast, and became cold, and destroyed the 

 prospects of fruit completely. Some attempts at 

 computing the loss had been made ; the conduct- 

 or of Covent Garden market says that on the 

 most moderate calculation it will amount to 

 £100,000, 450,000 dollars. In this estimate he 

 says he includes ordy the district rouml London, 

 but in computing the losses through the kingdom 

 £2,000,000 or nearly nine millions of dollars have 

 Leen spoken of. 



Some ideas of the effects of the apprehended 

 ■scarcity may be formed by the following prices 

 at Covent Ganlen market. Shelled green pea.s 

 (May 20th, ) 19 dollars a quart!! Peaches per 

 dozen, 13 dollars. Cherries per poinid, 8 dollars. 

 Strawberries forced, per ounce,from 11 cents to 

 52 cents. Hot House Grapes from two to five 

 dollars per pound. 



Great iniprovcineriTs have iiopn <nado in ii, 

 lUans 01 ueatuig hot houses with hot water. Tli 

 principal one consists in reducing the size of the 

 boiler. From experiments which I made in the 

 hot water system, the last winter, I became satis- 

 tied that the boilers could scarcely he made too 

 small. There are two objects to be effected by any 

 apparatus, whether smoke flues, steam pipes, or 

 hot water tubes. The first, to get up the heat in 

 shortest ])ossible time. The second to retain the 

 heat as long as possible with a given quantity of 

 fuel. The principal ailvantage proposed by the 

 hot water system is confined to the last, but the 

 learned Tredgold has suggested a mode by which 

 the hot water system may effect both. 



Mr John Mearns, whom Mr Loudon, and Mr 

 Knight (in their controversy about Mr Knight's im- 

 provements in raising pine apples) agree is a most 

 lexcellent gardener, gives the following account of 

 some cheap hot water apparatus now in actual 

 operation. The inventor is a Mr Oslar of Worces- 

 ter. The boiler for small pits should he two gal- 

 lons, pipes three inches bore — feeder 7 gallons. 

 The boiler and pipes for a grapery are large ; the 

 boiler is of copper and contains5 gallons, and costs 

 only 13 dollars 33 cents ; pipes for this large boiler 

 '3 inches, the feeder 30 gallons ; it works excdhntbj. 

 The grapery boiler measures 28 inches by 18 

 .inches ; the depth is not given, but as it holds only 

 15 gallons it cannot be more than 3 inches deep. 

 This is very probable, because Weeks' patented 

 apparatus in use for two years past and so strongly 

 recommended by Loudon has only one inch of 

 water in depth, though the boiler is 18 feet long. 

 The object in both cases being to heat the water 

 as rapidly as possible. Mearns retains his smoke 

 .flue very properly, it being a useless waste not to 



boil, the furnace and the boiler within the house- through your paper, re.'ipectini 



IVir Tredgold's article has ap|)earcd in Vol. vii. ing roofs; with lead in comparis 



pan IV. of the London Horticultural Society's gles, and 1000 square foet of r 



Traisactions, and from extracts in Loudon's Mag- t!ie best mode of putting it on, 



zinf, I see it is strictly scientific, and enables covering roofs with slate^n- oiher'subst"ancc« on 



you to know precisely how much pipe you must 1000 feet and their durability and use as a pre- 



hav« for a jgiven number of cubic feet of air in servation from wet. It will be well to have the 



I have not yet received that Num- | weight of each material mentioned that the cost of 



transportation may be estimated 



Your obt. servant, B. A. 



Mendon, Aug. 3, 1831. 



We are informed that 2.} lbs of the thinnest kind 

 of sheet lead is the weight^of a square foot, and the 

 cost is about 15 cts. for that quantity. A thicker 

 kind may be had at 18 cts. the square foot, weight 

 3 lbs. We cannot tell what would be the price 

 of putting it on, nor how it would compare with 

 slate cSic. — Editor. 



Tic Hardenpont de Printems pear, which the 

 Freich Gardeners have called Beurre Ranee has 

 com; into bearing this year with me. It resem- 

 bles exactly in shape the drawing of it in the Lon- 

 don Horticultural Transactions. 



Tiis is another example of Mr Knight's accu- 

 racj. If it will keep till April, is an abundant bear- 

 er, ;nd asgooH in ourclirnate, as it is found to be in 

 Flaiders and Great Britain, it will be far the most 

 vahable of all new fruits sent to us. 



1 have two Pears of the Duchess Angouleme, 

 fron a scion, given to me in 1829, by my friend 

 S. ii. Perkins, Esq. It is correct, perfectly so, 

 thoigh the Pears are smaller than they should be 

 ouiug to the weakness of the shoots. 



1 have some fine healthy pears on a tree of Jlr 

 Kn ght's which I have always called the Tillington, 

 but the Pears seem to resemble the Urbaniste, 

 more than what I should have expected accordijig 

 to VJr Knight's description. ' Tillinston produced 

 between the Jargonelle and Autuinn Bergamot ; its 

 formhitween both.' Now I .sliould evpent from this 

 a pear shaped like a St Michael. But the fine 

 looking pears I have upon the Tillington are globu- 

 lar, more so than any pear known to me. 



Mr Knight's Wormsley Grange, (one of his own 

 raising) has fruit on it. He says of it, ' It will 

 require to be gathered in your climate before it is 

 ri|ie. It is in Herefordshire a variety of first rate 

 excellence, rivalling the Brown Beurre in the most 

 perfect state of that variety.' 



1 infer from this, that it is an Autumnal Pear or 

 he would not counsel us to gather it before it is 

 ripe, At present it does not bid fair to be large, 

 though it is a remarkable healthy vigorous variety, 

 a mjtter of great importance to us in the country 

 where Pears are very delicate productions. 

 Aoxbunj, August 3, 1831. J. L . 



FOE THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



SHEET LEAD FOR THE ROOFS OF HOUSES. 

 Wr Editor, — I understand that sheet lead is 

 maib use of in some of our southern states, for 

 covffl'ing the roofs of buildings. As it would un- 

 donltedly, (if well laid on) preserve the buildings 

 dryaslongas they lasted, and then answer for 

 othff uses, I think it must be far superior to 

 shiiigles, as they require new laying as often as 

 ones in about 20 years, and are somestimes sub- 

 jectto leak in 10 or 15 years, also to taking fire 

 from the chimney or other buildings and being 

 connimed. I think that lead may be laid on from 

 rolli, in long strips running |rarallel with the roof 

 likerows of shingles, but probably much wider, 

 with the edges lapped just sufficient to shed water 



wel, and the top lap of the ends, (in splicing) cut 



sloping to a point on the upi)er edge of the strip _ __ , „. ...„ v^., n,.:» 



so as to shed water better. Thinking it may be of ' subject he expatiates with eqtmlly as much warmth. 



NEW FRUITS. 

 T. G. Fessenden, Esq. 



Dear Sir — The introduction of the most valu- 

 able vegetable productions of other countries 

 being an object of such great interest to Morticul- 

 tiue, it has been a primary object with us to obtain 

 every species and variety calculated to enrich 

 the gardens of our country ; in doing which we 

 have taken the utr>iost precaution to receive only 

 such as were ^V•n•■^ ■undovhtei sources. 'The ac- 

 quisitions during the past spring alone, nreso very 

 numerous, that they woulj form an extensive cat- 

 alogue. The acquisition of new fruits is of the 

 most particularinterest, and to it the most pointed 

 attention b.as been paid, and the course we have 

 adopted of obtaining the same variety from three 

 or foursourccs, so as to prove it by comparison, must 

 insure a degree of accuracy not to be otherwise 

 attained. The new Pears originated in Belgium 

 during the last fifteen years have become as famed 

 in the catalogues of choice fruits, as the name of 

 Professor Van Mons has become celebrated among 

 the distinguished pomologists of our day. It fs 

 with great pleasure therefore that we have to men- 

 lion him among the liberal contributors to our es- 

 tablishment. In February last he transmitted ta 

 us above 70 varieties of pear trees which he states 

 in his letter are 'Des plus yiouveUcs varietes, du pre- 

 mier rang,'' the newest varieties of the first rank. 

 These he accompanied by engravings and descrip- 

 tions of a number of the kinds, from the latter of 

 which we intend ere long to make translations, 

 as well as from liis copious letters which abound 

 with interesting ujatter. In one of the periodicals 

 received from liini there is a detailed statement 

 of three cases of hydrophobia where the patients 

 were successfully treated and perfectly cured, 

 which we proiiose also to translate tor publica- 

 tion. There is another subject beside horticulture 

 on which the learned Professor dwells with par- 

 ticular enthusiasm, and in which he appears to have 

 taken an active part ; that will also be highly pleas-, 

 i'lg to our American feelings : it is the Revolutioft 

 and the Independence of his Country. On this. 



