Vol. X.— \o. 27. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL, 



213 



isasaiirs?a(Sii.'aii©srsa 



HEATING BY HOT WATER. 



Brookliiie, Dec. 'j8, 1831. 



Mr Fessenden — In your paper of November 

 30th, Gen. Dearborn published a letter of mine to 

 him, on the subject of heating green houses with 

 hot water. At that time I had not put in practice 

 the mode I intended for warming my liouse ; 

 since then, however, I have been perfectly satis- 

 fied that this modt of heating is the best that has 

 been hitlierto applied to this purpose. My gar- 

 dener had been used to flues o>i7y, in heating a 

 house, and his prejudices were of course in favor 

 of that practice. Since he has experienced the 

 . good effects of the hot water mode of supplying 

 heat, he much prefers it to flues ; the weather has 

 been such as to give the experiment a fair test. 



The following is his report to me in relation to 

 his operations the last week, ou 22d and 23d inst. 



The fire was kindled under the boiler at 3 

 o'clock, P. M. ; at 10 o'clock at night, the external 

 air was 4" below zero ; the water in the boiler was 

 204" ; that in the reservoir, 87 feet distant from the 

 boiler, v/as lOli'^; the air in the house at same 

 time was 50" ; fuel was added at that hour, and 

 the house left, with the damper nearly closed. — 

 At sunrise, the following morning, the external 

 air was still at 4°, and the water in the reservoir 

 120° ; the air in the house 42°. The weather 

 during Friday was very severe ; the mercury in 

 the house continued to rise through the forenoon, 

 and was at 50° when I visited it. The air is 

 thought to be much more congenial to the growth 

 of plants, than that from flues, and the trouble 

 less in attending the fire. If I am correct in my 

 calculation, the area of the house contains 13,680 

 cubic feet of air, to be heated. The front wall 

 and upright sashes are 8 feet high ; the back wall 

 20 feet high 5 the length of the house 56 feet, and 

 the pitch of the glass 34°, or about what is called 

 one third pitch ; width of house 20 feet. This \vill 

 enable others to correct me if I have miscalculated 

 its contents ; the quantity of water to be heated in 

 the boiler, reservoir and pipes, is about 400 gal- 

 lons. When the fire has been lighted five or six 

 hours, there is a difference of about 8° between 

 the water in the boiler and that in the reservoir ; 

 when about ten hours, the heat of the water is 

 about the same in the reservoir as in the boiler. 



Jan. 12th, 1832. I have deferred sending you the 

 above, that I might profit by the experience of the 

 present month — which confirms what has been 

 stated in the preceding. 



Your obedient servant, 



T. H. Perkins. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



DISEASED QUINCE TREES. 

 Mr Fessenden — Having read in your paper 

 the extract from the Genesee Farmer, stating the 

 loss of quince trees, and having experienced some- 

 thing of the same last sununer, although my know- 

 ledge of natural history is not sufficient to name 

 the depredator, I will attempt to give some ac- 

 count of a remedy. By some pains and expense, 

 I had obtained a quince tree in my garden, which 

 had come to maturity, and blossomed last spring, 

 and yoimg quinces had grown considerably ; but 

 I discovered one day as I passed by it, that the 

 leaves began to turn yellow, and decay, and con- 

 tinued so to do. But on examination the bark was 

 found to be dead just under the surface of the 



ground, with the appearance of worms. The earth 

 was taken away from the tree two or three inches 

 below the surface, and a quantity of ashes laid 

 around the tree, and then a little mound of eaith 

 raised round the tree over the ashes. The tree 

 was examined two or three weeks after, when the 

 leaves ap|)eared to be as dry and as frangible as 

 though it had been cut down long before ; which 

 dissipated all hopes of longer life. I therefore 

 concluded in the fall to take it up, and not cum- 

 ber the ground with it ; but on examination, to my 

 surprise, life appeared to have been restored, and 

 some short limbs had vegetated, and probably 

 some new roots had grown out into the raised 

 earth, which was very pleasing, for although quince 

 trees are frequent in the old colony, they are very 

 scarce in this section of the country, perhaps not 

 another in town, except one other young one in 

 my garden. We think this method of treatment 

 would generally save them, for we frequently save 

 our decaying pear trees in the same way. We 

 would also recommend a timely application of 

 asbes as a preventive. S. C. 



Minot, Me., Jan. 11, 1832. 



Feooi the Harriaburgfa Chronicle. 



FRUIT TREES. 



Much good fruit has been introduced into this 

 neighborhood of late years, but the demand in- 

 creases faster than the production. It is as easy 

 to raise good fruit as bad or iudifterent and, when 

 the good is brought to market, it will bring nearly 

 double the price of the other. The frst cost of 

 fruit trees is the only difference in expense, but 

 the produce of a single season will amply remu- 

 nerate this. 



Some difficulty is experienced with regard to 

 the time and mode of planting friut trees, to obvi- 

 ate which we make the following extract from Mr 

 Prince's treatise on the management of fruit and 

 ornamental trees, &c. 



Seasons for Transplanlingi — Spring is the sea- 

 son when we find the most pleasure in making 

 our rural inqirovements, and from this circum- 

 stance probably it has become the general season 

 for planting trees, but experience has proved the 

 fall planting to be the most successful, especially 

 in those parts of the United States which are sub- 

 ject to droughts, as the trees planted in autunm 

 suffer little or none from a drought, when those 

 set out in spring often perish in consequence of it. 



Notwithstanding, with regard to those fruits 

 that have been originally brought from warmer 

 climates — such as the peach, apricot, nectarine, 

 and almond, which are natives of Persia, Armenia, 

 &c. It is necessary for us to consult the opera- 

 tions of climate also ; and, from a consideration of 

 these attendant circumstances, I have come to the 

 following conclusions. In localities south of New 

 York the fall season is preferable for transplanting 

 all trees — north of New York, the fall is prefera- 

 ble only for the apple, pear, plum, cherry, quince, 

 and all other trees of northern latitude ; whereas 

 the spring is to be preferred for the peach, apricot, 

 nectarine, and almond, which for the reasons be- 

 fore stated, nfight, during severe winters, suffer 

 from the intensity of the frosts. Still I do not 

 mean to assert that trees of these kinds are cer- 

 tain to be injured by the winter, as in very many 

 seasons they are not in the least affected ; still they 

 are exposed to vicissitudes which may or may not 

 occur. Many gentlemen, however, of excellent 

 judgment, make their plantations in the fall, which 



only serves to prove, that, even in the most intel- 

 ligent minds, a diversity of opinion exists. 



Trees, Sfc, on their arrival at the place of desti- 

 nation As soon as the trees arrive at the place 



where they are to be planted, let a trench be dug 

 in cultivated ground, the bundles unpacked, and 

 the roots well wet, and immediately covered with 

 earth in the trench, observing to make the earth 

 fine that is spread over them, so as not to leave 

 vacancies for the admission of air to dry the roots, 

 it having been found by experience that the thrif\- 

 iness of trees, the first year after transplantation, 

 depends much on the fine fibres of the roots being 

 kept moist, and not suffered to dry from the time 

 they are taken up until they are replanted ; their 

 increase, therefore, must depend principally on the 

 subsequent management on their arrival at the 

 place of destination : for, if", when the bundles are 

 unpacked, the trees are carelessly exposed to dry- 

 ing winds, the young fibres of the roots must 

 perish, and the trees, if they live at all, . cannot 

 thiive the first season, as they can receive little or 

 no nourishment until those fibres are replaced. 



Manner of planting. — Let the holes be dug some- 

 what larger than is sufficient to admit the roots in 

 their natural position, aud of sufficient depth to al- 

 low the tree to be placed two or three inchei 

 deeper than it was before transplanting ; take care 

 to cut off any wounded parts of the root, and to 

 reduce the top full one third, by shortening the 

 branches or thinning them out. Let from two to 

 four shovelfulls of well rotted stable manure, in 

 proportion to the size of the tree, be incorporated 

 with the earth, and the whole made fine previous 

 to filling it in ; and, during the operation of filling 

 in the earth, let the tree be several times shaken, 

 in order that the soil may be admitted among the 

 finer roots ; and when completely filled in, let tlie 

 ground be well trodden down, and finish by mak- 

 ing a hollow or basin around the tree, to catch tlie 

 rain and convey it to the roots, or to receive the 

 watering which it will be necessary to give it, 

 should the season prove dry. 



To caiise the trees to thrive. — The ground where 

 they are planted must be kept cultivated ; young 

 trees will not thrive if the grass is permitted to 

 form a sod around them, and, if it should be ne- 

 cessary to plant them in grass ground, care must 

 be taken to keep the earth mellow and free from 

 grass for three or four feet distant around them, 

 and, every autumn, some well rotted manure 

 shoidd be dug in and around each tree, and every 

 spring the bodies of the apple, pear, plum, and 

 cherry trees, and others that it is particularly desira- 

 ble to promote the gro^vth of, should be brushed 

 over with conunon soft soap, undiluted with wa- 

 *«-r ; this treatment will give a thriftiness to the 

 trees surpassing the expectation of any one who 

 has not witnessed its effect. Should the first sea- 

 son after transplanting prove drj-, regular water- 

 ing will be necessary, as, from a neglect of proper 

 attention in tl^s respect, many lose a large por- 

 tion of their trees during a drought. 



Large Pears.— We have seen at the Boston 

 Athenoeum two Pears of the variety called Poimd 

 Pear, raised by Doct. Hildreth, Marietta, Ohio, one 

 of which weighed 38 ounces, and the other 34 02. 



Antiquarian Socte/i/.— Christopher C. Baldwin, 

 Esq. of Worcester has been elected Libarian of thii 

 institution, which is to be hereafter continually opes. 

 Two wings have recently been added to the build- 



