406 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



July 4, 1832. 



Boston, Wednesday Evening, July 4, 1833. 



THINNING CROPS, PLANTS, LEAVES, 

 FRUITS, &c. 

 Thinning Seedling Crops. — Marshall observes, ' Jar parts only, such i)arts should be morlerately ihin- 



abiindant set fruit on apricot, nectarine, peach, and 

 plum trees, is a necessary duty, as many of these 

 in good seasons set more than they can nourish or 

 bring near to perfection. This thinning, however, 

 must be cautiously performed and by degrees. If 

 the trees have set their fruit very thick in particu 



that the thinning of seedling crops should be done ned out now, [the fore part of the season,] and the 

 in time, before the young plants have drawn one ! other pans not yet. But if the fruit be very thickly 



another up too much. All plants grow stronger 

 and ripen their juices better when the air circu- 

 lates freely round them, and the sun is not pre- 



be inherited. This is a most important bi't neg- 

 lected consideration ; for however desirable or 

 even perfect may have been the conformation of 

 the sire, every good point may be lost by the de- 

 fective form or want of blood in the mare. There 

 are niceties in this, of which some breeders used 

 to be aware, and they employed their knowledge 

 to great advantage, when they were careful that 

 the essential points shoidd be good in both parents, 



et all over the tree, let it be generally thinned off and that some minor defect in either should be 



to half its e.\tent, early in the season ; deferring 

 the final thinning till the stoning be over, that i: 



vented from an immediate influence ; an attention till the shells be quite hard and the kernel is form- 

 which should be paid from the first appearance of' ed. For most trees, especially those anywise im- 

 plants breaking ground. In thiiming close crops, healthy, drop many of their fruit in the time of 

 such as onions, carrots, turnips, &c, be sure that stoning ; so that the thinning had better be pcr- 

 they are not left too near, for instead of reaping a formed at two or three different times; always oh 



Greater produce there will be a less. When they i serving to reserve the fullest, brownest, and best , and dam." Page 223. 



met and got rid of by excellence in that particular 

 point in the other, the result was creditable to their 

 judgment and highly profitable. The unskilful 

 or careless breeder will often so badly pair the an- 

 imals, that the good ))oints of each will be in a 

 maimer lost; the defects of both will be increased, 

 and the produce will be far inferior to both sire 



stand too close they will make tall and large tops, formed ftuit." 

 but are prevented swelling in their roots ; it is bet- 

 ter to err on the wiile side, for though there will 

 be fewer plants, they will be finer and better fla- 

 vored. 



Thinning the Leaves of Fruit Tees. — The 

 leaves have too essential an office as organs of 

 growth to the entire plant, to be lightly parted 

 with ; and where the climate is not deficient in 

 heat, compared with the nature of the plants, or 

 the portion of the year in which its season for veg- 

 etation falls, their shade is more likely to be ser- 

 vicable than detritnental, even iti the last stage of 

 fruiting. Thus cherries, raspberries, strawberries, 

 currants, and other species, whose full term of 

 fructification is more than comprehended in our 



THE AMERICAN FARRIER. 



We have recently been favored with a copy of 

 an useful work, entitled "The American Farrier; 

 containing a minute account of the formation of 

 the horse, from the extremity of the head to the 

 hoof; with a description of all the diseases to 

 which each part is liable, the best reinedits to be 

 applied in effecting a cure, and the most approved 

 mode of treatment for preventing disorders ; ac- 

 companied with a copious alphabetical list of med- 

 icines, describing their qualities and effects when 

 applied in different cases; and a comjjlete treatise 

 on rearing and managing the horse, from the foal 



The above remarks are sound and practical, and 

 will apply to the breeding of other domestic ani- 

 mals as well as the horse. 



ROUSSEAU ON BOTANY. 

 A friend has sent us extracts from letters writ- 

 ten by the celebrated J. J. RoiAseau to the Duch- 

 ess of Portland, on the subject of botany. We are 

 very much obliged to the person who conferred 

 the favor upon ns, but the extracts are, we fear, too 

 verbosely and loosely written to prove interesting 

 to our readers, who are mostly persons who have 

 no time to bestow on essays which are rather cu- 

 rious than useful. We cannot sav but Rousseau 



ay have written something on the subject of bot- 

 to the full grown active laborer. Compiled chiefly | aiiy, which luight be worthy of attention at thiS' 

 summer, roach perfect maturity and acquire the . |Vom the celebrated ' Library of Useful Knowl- stage of that science, {for it has made great advan 

 color proper to each, though ever so much cover- edge,' just published by a committee of one bun- | ces since Rousseau's time,) but the twelve pagei 



cd with leaves; whereas, for those kinds which 

 ripen with dilficulty here, because the direct rays 

 and most intense reflection of the sun, is scarcely 

 equal to the heat in the shade during the summer 

 of their native climate, it is proper, when the fruit 

 has nearly attained its full size, and is naturally 

 losing its absolute greenness, to remove some of 

 the leaves which shade it too much. Were the 

 leaves thinned sooner it would prejudice the 

 srowth of the fruit ; and should they even now be 

 swept off unsparingly, the growth of the year's 

 shoots might be arrested. The leaves which cov- 

 er the fruit, whether peaches, grapes, late pears, 

 or other late ripening fruits, must be removed 

 gi-adually, that is, at two or three times in the 

 course of five or six days; otherwise the unusual 

 full heat of the sun darling upon the fruit, would 

 occasion the rind to crack. 



Nicol, a Scotch writer on gardening, says, "My 

 practice has been, as the fruits begin to color, to 

 pick off every leaf that may overhang them ; thus 

 very much enhancing their beauty and flavor. In 

 late seasons, if the leaves of wall-trees hang long- 

 er than usual, they may be brushed off, in order 

 to let in the sun and air the better to ripen the 

 wood. This brushing, however, should be cau- 

 tiously performed, never brushing niuch at a time. 

 The leaves should not be forced off violently. 

 The shoots from which the leaves are to be dis- 

 placed, should he gently stroked upwards and out- 

 waids, but never the reverse way, else there is 

 danger of hurting llie buds. Trees exposeil to the 

 wind seldom require this care ; but sometimes es- 

 paliers may, and if so, the same course is to be 

 pursued as above. 



^Thinning Stone Fruit. — Thinning the over- 



dred and fifty eminent agriculturists, who have j of letter paper with which we have been favored, 

 used every means in their power in investigating contain but little besides " confessions " of igno- 

 this useful branch of agriculture. The American ranee and incapacity in the writer, and professioni 

 Farrier contains the residt of their experiments, of admiration for the Duchess, who is honored with 

 and researches with the treatise which they oft'er ■ his lucubrations. VVe,however,highly appreciate th« 

 to the public. Illustrated with engravings, &c. ! kind intentions of our eorrespondcnf, who has fa- 



By H. L. Barnum.' 



vored us with the manuscript alluded to; whicl 



The above, quoted from the title page, appears | we have preserved and shall retain, subject to hit 

 1 give a correct sketch of the contents of the order. 



work, and an aiitici])ation of its value which is 

 fully realized in its pages. 



The language of the book is simple, and no 

 "hard words" are used, which are not defined in 

 a vocabulary which precedes the treatise. 



The following extract is a sample of the work. 

 Under the head " Priiu'iples of Breeding," it is re- 

 marked, that " the first axiom we would lay down 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



StTUROAT, JUT» 30, 1832. 



Mr John A. Kendrick, of Newton, and Ml 

 Williiim E. Payne, of Boston, were admiltet^ 

 members. 



The exhibition of Flowers this day was very fine. 



i.S that like will produce like, that the progeny I and the variety such as has very rarely if ever 

 will inherit the qualities or mingled qualities of the ; been witnessed in our vicinity. They were from 

 l.arents. We would refer to ^be subject of dis- the gardens of Messrs Winships ol Brfghton Mr 

 eases, and again .state our perfect conviction, that Haggerston of Charlestown, Mr Aspinwall of 



Brookline, Mr J. A. Kendrick of Ne«tnn, MrZeb- 

 cdee Cook, Jr. of Dorchester, Mr William Ken 

 drick of Newton, Mr Nath'l Davenport of Milton, 



there is scarcely one by which either of the pa 

 rents is effected, that the foal will not inherit or at 

 h'ast the predisposition to it ; even the conse- 

 quence of ill usage or hard work will descend to 

 the progeny. We have had proof upon proof, that 

 blindness, roaring, thick-wind, broken-wind, spav- 

 ins, curbs, ring-bones, and founder, have been be- 

 queathed, both by the sire and the dam, to the ofl- 

 spring. It shoidd likewise be recollected, that 

 though these blemishes may not appear in the im- 

 mediate progeny, they freipiently will in the next 

 generation. Hence the necessity of some knowl- 

 edge of the parentage, both of the sire and the 

 dam. 



" Peculiarity of form and constitution will also 



Mr A. Walker of Roxbury, an<l Mr H. A. Breed 

 of Lyim. A writer in the Boston Transcrii>t, who 

 ap.peurs to be well versed in horticidture, stated 

 that " there were at least one bimdred and fifty 

 varieties of the rose in the various bouquets. 



"Messrs Winships' collection of roses," accord- 

 ing to the same paper, " was by far the largest and 

 yielded to none in beauty. Besides about fifty 

 varieties of the rose, among which were the white, 

 red, and black moss rose, we noticed many choice 

 herbaceous plants; among them were Anchusa 

 ochroleuca, Galium profusum, Silene parviflora, 



