226 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Feb. I, 1832. 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Thos. G. Fessendfn, Esq. 



Dear Sir — Agreeably to the desire of the 

 London HorticuUural Society, I last month trans- 

 mitted them, a collection of our native productions 

 comprising — 3'2 varieties of Apples, 12 varieties of 

 Pears, a number of varieties of Plums and Grapes 

 and a very interesting new double varitties of 

 Hibiscus Syriacus or Althca Frute.x, having origin- 

 ated the latter from seed. In addition thereto, I 

 presented them vi'ith the seeds of 50 species and 

 varieties of Oak, 18 species of Hickory, and with 

 several species of our most interesting Pines, and 

 as productions indigenous to our forests, offer a 

 proof so conclusive of the natural riches of our 

 country, I hereto annex a list of them. — The 

 number of varieties of the oak spread over the 

 immense expanse of teiTitory from Maine to Mexico 

 is so great, that the collection of the"m might have 

 been easily extended to one hundred varieties, 

 without including above 20 evergreen species, 

 natives of Mexico itself. Of the latter I have 

 three splendid species now flourishing in our 

 garden, in which are also concentrated the Spanish 

 Oak, which yields the cork, universally in use, as 

 well as the other European varieties ; and also a 

 most interesting evergreen species from the East 

 Indies whose growth a.«similates very much to 

 that of our Holly. Win. Robert Prince. 



Lin. Bot. Garden, ) 



Flushing, N. Y. Jan. 1832. j 



1. Quercus virens. 



2. " V. divprsifolia. 



This is the species ternieil Live Oak and it affords the 

 superior ship timber deemed equal lo the Teak of India 



The bark of these varieties is very extensively used 

 in the tanneries. 



23. " aquatica. 



24. " " V. glande minor. 



25. " " V. heterophylla. 



These are sub-evergreen, often holding their folia 

 during the whole winter. 

 20. " palustris. 



27. " cinerea. 



28. " " var. 



This species affords a brilliant yellow dye. 



29. " catesbsei — a beautiful evergreen. 



30. " coccinea. 



31. " " V. glande oblonga, 



32. " " V. glande minor. 



The bark of these is often used at the tanneries in 

 lieu of the true Quercitron. 



33. " hemisi)lierica 



34. " phellos. 



The wood is used by wheelwrights and is remarkable 

 for its sti-englh and tenacity ; the trees attain to the height 

 of 80 feet or more. 



35. " falcata. 



ThR bark of this species in high estimation for tanning, 

 and the wood is used by the wheelwrights. 

 3(5. " chinquapin. 



37. " lyrata. 



This species affords good timber. 



38. " ambigiia. 



The bark is used inand the tanneries and the timber 

 for knees of sliips, and also by the wbcelwrit^hts. 



39. " nana. 



40. " sericea. 



41. " myrtifolia. 



42. " laurifolia. 



4,3. « castanea — forms a beautiful tree. 



44. " maratima. 



45. " ferruginea — affords excellent fuel. 



46. " banisteri. 



47. " imbricaria. 



48. " " V. fol. serrata. 



The wood of the two last is used for shingles, &c. 



49. " discolor. 



50. " " V. glande oblonga. 



51. Juglans myristiciEfomiis. 



This species it is believed does not at present exist in 

 any European, collection, the specimens called by the 

 name being generally the J. porcina v. ficiformis. AI 

 though I have made tbe most particular inquiries and 

 research for a period of twelve years, it was not until the 

 present one that I succeeded in discovering its native 

 locality and I have been often tempted to doubt its exist 



joud health, while the bees ui the other were 

 dead, though there was a large supply of honey 



in the hive. — What was the cause of their death ? 



If some one of your correspondents will furnish 



a satisfactory answer, through your paper, a 



ptrticular favor will be conferred on, 



OBSERVATOR. 



52. 

 53. 

 54. 

 55. 



56. 



porcina. 



" V. ficiformis. 



" V. stibovata. 



cinerea. 

 alba, vel. squamosa. 



57. " sulcata. 



58. " tomentosa. 



59. " V. nuce subovata. 



60. " V. nuce maxima globosa. 



61. " V. nuce maxima quadrangu.aris. 



62. " V. nuce oblonga. 

 6.3. " V. nuce maxima ovata. 



64. " V. nuce minima. 



65. " nigra. 



66. " amara. 



67. " aquatica. 

 iiB. " olivieformis. 

 (i9. Pinus pungens. 



I discovered some trees of this very rare species in 

 1829 occupying an insulated position, the locality of 

 which is 4(10 miles north of the one recorded by I'ursh 

 and Michaux, and during the same year I transmitted a 

 large number of the cones to Paris and London. 



70. Pinus palustris— the most valuable of all our 



native species. 



71. " rubra. 

 Michaux, though so estimable and accurate a botanist, 



doubts the existence of this species and notes it as a 

 variety only, whereas no species is more distincllj 

 marked. 



72. Pinus alba. 

 This is the most beautiful tree of all the class of Abies, 



and seldom to be met with even in tliis, its native coun 

 "T- _^___ 



BEES — Inquirv. 

 Mr Fessenden — About the 25th of las 

 November, I placed four hives of bees on tht 

 same stand, with the places of entrance so fai 

 obstructed, that no one could escape from the hives. 

 I also closed the doors of my apiaiy. Near the 

 last of December, I examined my hives, and found 

 the bees in three of them lively, and apparently 



EDUCATION OF FARMERS' SONS AND 

 DAUGHTERS. 



Let me entreat farmers and their wives to edu- 

 cite their sons and daughters for their own pro- 

 fessions. All the idle and studious professions 

 art crowded to overflowing. Go through our cit- 

 ies, aud resist, if you can, the rising sigh over hu- 

 uan folly, when you see the streets lined with 

 \Ay-, beggarly Lawyers, Doctors, Jlerchant.s, un- 

 pad or half paid Clerks, unemployed Schoolmas- 

 tc's, aud Scriveners, seeking for places, &c, &c. 

 Cr where you enter the dwellings, and examine 

 tie condition of ftmiilies ; wnthout employment, 

 vithout any of the fruits of industry, importuning 

 hilf distracted fathers for finery aud gewgaws, who 

 ae borrowing notes, and begging for delays for 

 tlirty days more, hanging about brokers, in order 

 t( avert for a few months, a threatened destruction. 

 IVieg that farmers and their wives will reflect a 

 muucnt on the situation of our thousands of disap- 

 ])(inted young men and women, whose parents' fol- 

 Ijhas thrown them upon the world, unqualified for 

 ay of those pursuits which will insure them a 

 c)mpetency. The illiterate clerk is begging for a 

 >-hool, which he is not qualified to teach. The 

 loarding school girl, who can tinkle the ]>iano ve- 

 y well, aud has said oft" set lessons in Stewart, 

 infield, Euclid, &c, so well as to procure news- 

 /paper puffs for her teacher, but is absolutely tm- 

 qualified to teach an A-B-C-darian school, is also 

 seeking a place as teacher without success. 



How easy it would be for two or three wealthy 

 fanners in one parish, to revolutionize the state of 

 things in their vicinage ; other parishes would 

 witness their improvement and imitate their ex- 

 ample. 



As I have long since passed my half-century 

 birth-day, have sons in several professions, and 

 daughters advancing in life, have been bred to farm- 

 ing in the goed old way, {which calling I fool- 

 ishly abandoned for the law, one of the learned 

 professions it is absurdly called) I ask for a hear- 

 ing among the respectable farmers along the 

 banks of the delightful Genesee. Should you 

 succeed in reforming the taste, and improving the 

 course of education there, so far as to become a 

 pattern for inutation throughout our country, the 

 waters ofthe Genesee would become as sacred in 

 America, as the waters of the Gauges are in In- 

 dia. Future poets woidd refer to it as the sacred 

 fountain, from which flowed the streams of true 

 science, industry, and con.sequently tlie most per- 

 fect terrestrial happiness. 



As soon as your sons and daughters are old 

 enough to walk without tottering, put them to some 

 one of the numerous employments which your 

 situation will afford, where they may be able to see 

 traces of their first labors for a longtime. Sons 

 may have small patches of ground assigned them 

 as mimic farms. They may there raise their two 

 feet fields of flax, oats, barley, &c ; their currant 

 orchards, their ])otato ])atches, their cabbage 

 groimds, their wheat field.s, and meadows, may all 

 be laid out on a few rods of groimd. 



