NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



119 



into posts, can bj' this process be rendered compar- 

 atively durable. Our reasons for this opinion are 

 these : 1. Charcoal, being- indestructible, is not liable 

 to be acted upon disadvantageously by heat and 

 moisture, those active agents in the process of decay ; 

 2. Charcoal, though possessing great affinity for 

 moisture, is a bad conductor of heat ; and therefore 

 it is not to be presumed that it would, in this connec- 

 tion, exert an injurious office upon the interior of 

 the wood beyond the charred part, because the neces- 

 sary degree of heat and moisture, to excite and carry 

 on decomposition, would not be present; and 3. Be- 

 cause the very process of charring the but-cnd would 

 expel a considerable quantity of water and sap in the 

 body of the posts, and thus relieve them, in a great 

 degree, of the presence of the agent by which rot- 

 tenness, when operated upon by heat, is most gen- 

 erally brought about. Therefore, if you deprive the 

 post of the cause of decay, as a consequence you 

 must assure its preservation through a very great 

 length of time. 



LARGE VS. SMALL CHEESES. 



The Ashtabula Telegraph, speaking of the great 

 decline in the price of cheese in the northern part of 

 Ohio, the last season, attributes it to the large size of 

 the cheeses. 



" It is stated by one of our most intelligent and 

 cautious merchants, that his experience of New York 

 prices of cheese, acquired dui-ing his fall visit to make 

 purchases, settled in his mind, conclusively, the form 

 and weight of cheese intended for export or for city 

 use. He found, on inquirj' at the highest sources, 

 that while tive and a half cents was the top price for 

 our large-sized cheese, the small sizes, say from ten 

 to twenty pounds, were quick of sale at nine and 

 nine and a half cents. This, he declared, was a fact 

 worth knowing bj' a country merchant in the habit 

 of buying cheese, and it is a fact worth knowing by 

 those who make cheese. Large cheeses, however 

 skilfully and carefully made and kept, are bad travel- 

 lers. The principle of decomposition is inherent in 

 every cheese, and nothing but dryness can arrest it ; 

 but in large dairies this degree of dryness is difficult 

 of attainment — is seldom attained. What is called 

 Juiavim/ in cheese is simply fermentation ; and this is 

 the lirst step to decomposition, which is inevitable, 

 after the heaving has once occurred. The great 

 losses heretofore sustained by foreign merchants — 

 purchasers of large cheese — have made them shy of 

 the article, and their loss of character has led to their 

 fall in value. — Exchange. 



Kem.vuks. — Although the above facts may be true 

 commercially, which we can hardly believe, yet we 

 can never subscribe to the doctrine, that small 

 cheeses arc better and worth more than large ones. 

 Th-cre never was nor ever will be a good cheese niailx'., of 

 only ten or twelve pounds weight — a position that every 

 connoisseur, and real judge of a good article will at 

 once endorse. 



It caimot in fact be other-vnsc, for it is self-evident, 

 that the entire value of cheese depends upon a sec- 

 ondary fermentation, a stage approaching to putrefac- 

 tion — a ripening and thorough conversion, from the 

 tasteless pulp of the tirst curdy matter, to that pecu- 

 liar state that causes cheese to be cheese. 



The small cheeses dry, and never reach the stage 

 of proper ripening ; while large ones possess the 

 bulk, moisture, and heat consequent on fermentation, 

 to carry out the chemical decomposition necessary to 

 perfect the true article. 



It may be true that small ciiocscs sell best, and 

 are the safer articles to transport, and more con- 

 venient and within the means of the majority of 

 purchasers ; but that ever a small cheese was as good 



as a large one, say those of forty pounds, and within 

 the abihty of proper handling in the making, must be 

 set down as utterly heterodox. 



The only possible excuse for forming such an 

 opinion, must be predicated on the fact that we use 

 our large cheeses at least one year too soon ; they arc 

 not ripe, and passed through the fermenting stages, 

 and arrived at the age of perfection — while the small 

 ones become as good as they ever can be in a few 

 months, — Rural New- Yorker, 



THE OSWEGO BEURRE PEAR. 



Mr. p. Baury : In accordance with a promise 

 made to you last fall, when I presented you speci- 

 mens of the Oswego Beurrc, I will give some further 

 history of this pear, the result of three years' ex- 

 perience, since it was described by Mr. Downing, in 

 the January number of the Horticulturist for 1847. 

 I ate my last specimen the 19th of P'ebruary inst. 

 They were kept till this late period of winter, by 

 packing in boxes Avith shorts. Every week, during 

 the winter, previous to this date, I have eaten them, 

 either baked or raw. Last fall a portion of the crop 

 was kept on the tree much later than on any former 

 year. My specimens were sound during December 

 and January. The last, eaten the 19th of this month, 

 was about one third decayed on one side, sound at 

 the core, and retained the peculiar flavor of the 

 variety well. If the Oswego Beui-re be allowed to 

 remain on the tree till a sufficiently late period in the 

 fall, I believe it may be relied upon in this latitude, 

 both for the table and for cooking, from the middle 

 of October to the last of January. 



From the fact that nearly all of the specimens 

 heretofore tested by pomologists have been picked 

 before fully grown, it has been pronounced an acid 

 pear. Mr. J. J. Thomas, in the last edition of the 

 Fruit Culturist, has very honestly, no doubt, said of 

 the Oswego Beurre, it is " regarded as fully tirst- 

 rate by those who like the vinous flavor of the Brown 

 Beurre or Beurre d'Aremberg." I ate a specimen of 

 the Oswego Beurre with a Beurre d'Aremberg, on 

 the first of January last, and found them nearly as 

 far apart in Havor as the I>ady Sweeting and llhode 

 Island Greening apples, tested at the same time. 



Mr. N. Ooodsell, the pioneer promologist, of 

 Western New York, who ate specimens with me last 

 Christmas, pronounced it one of the most saccharine 

 pears he ever tasted. From the early and profuse 

 bearing of this saccharine pear, I believe it would be 

 the most profitable article to cultivate, (whether po- 

 monal or vegetable,) for the purpose of manufacturing 

 sugar. 



Although a handsome pear, and uniformly fair, it 

 has less of beauty than its parent, the White Do- 

 yenne. It has the red cheek occasionally of the 

 latter, and approaches it nearer, in general form, than 

 Mr. Downing's cut would indicate. Beauty excepted, 

 it has been pronounced by the Fruit Committee of 

 our Horticultural Society here, superior to that " nc 

 plus ultra of perfection in flavor and beauty," the 

 White Doyenne, or Virgalicu. 



J. W. V. ALLEN. 



OswEOO, Feb. 27, 1850. 



We may add, that, from our own experience, tlio 

 Oswego Beurre proves a vigorous and l)eautiful 

 grower, and an early and prolihc bearer, both on pear 

 and quince. — Ed. — Genesee Farmer. 



THE PASTURAGE OF BEES. 



Next to the situation of the bcc-hivc is the con- 

 sideration of the bees" pasturage. When there is 

 plenty of the white Dutch clover — sometimes called 



