NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



253 



one hundred varieties of pears, and nearly or quite 

 as many apples, and I have tried many ways to bring 

 them to bearing as soon as possible, but have not, as 

 yet, found any way that I could get fruit as soon as 

 to graft them" into a tree that had come to maturity. 

 Therefore I have no hesitation in saying that, with 

 my experience, scions taken from an old tree and set 

 in'a young tree will bear much sooner than others ; 

 and scions taken from a young tree and put in an old 

 tree will bear much sooner than on their own stock. 



L. BURT. 



Walpole, N. H., July 15, 1850. 



Remarks. — We should be pleased to learn the 

 results of other experiments on this subject, as other 

 persons have come to a different conclusion from that 

 of our correspondent. Here is an important point 

 for consideration. A scion is taken from an old 

 bearing tree, and set in a small stock near the ground, 

 and in the summer of the same season the shoot 

 from that scion is used for budding, with other shoots 

 from the tree that the other scion was taken from. 

 Now, will that scion, from its being only a few months 

 on that young stock, lose its disposition to bear to as 

 great a degree as though it had remained several 

 years before it was used for budding ? 



For the New Englaiid Farmer. 

 FOOD OF PLANTS. 



Tlie food of animals always consists either of other 

 animals, or vegetables, or a mixture of both, together 

 with water, or some fluid containing a considerable 

 portion of water, for drink ; that is, as a solvent to 

 the more solid matters. Plants, again, strictly speak- 

 ing, subsist on drink alone, being, indeed, incapable 

 of taking up any solid matter, at least till it be pire- 

 ^iously dissolved or diffused in water. 



There is an obvious and well-known proof that 

 plants live on water, chiefly, if not altogether, de- 

 rived from hyacinths and other bulbs placed in glasses, 

 and supplied with water, in which they blow as well 

 as in a garden. It is found, however, that they do 

 not thrive unless the water is regularly changed, in- 

 dicating that it is not the water alone, but something 

 in the water, which becomes exhausted and deterio- 

 rated by the feculent slime discharged by the plant. 

 It has also been found, by experiment, that distilled 

 water will not support a healthy growth in plants ; 

 and moi^t, if not all species, when planted in pure 

 calcined sand, and watered with distilled water, 

 quickly die, as they do when quite deprived of water. 



From chemical analysis and experiment, it appears 

 that the chief matters taken up by the plants, be- 

 sides water, consist of carbonic acid gas and azote, 

 together with a few salts, such as potash; and out 

 of these, and the hydrogen and oxygen of the water, 

 all vegetable products seem to be wholly or chiefly 

 elaborated. ^Ir. Lassaigne proved that these all pass 

 into the plants from without, by the ingenious exper- 

 iment of analyzing the chemical constituents of seeds 

 before and after germination. 



AVhen, by chemical experiment, substances are 

 foiuul in plants different from those supposed to have 

 been introduced from the soil, it is not to be inferred 

 that the plants have created these, but that they 

 have gradually taken them up in very minute por- 

 tions, till a considerable quantity has been produced. 



It is projjcr to confess, however, that we arc still 

 mueli in tlie dark upon tliis interesting subject, it being 

 extremely difficult, if not impossible, to trace the fluid 

 taken up by a plant after it passes beyond the sur- 

 face. BERNARD REYN080. 



AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL CONGRESS. 



In conformity with the resolutions passed at the 

 last session of this national institution, its next 

 meeting will be held in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, 

 on the 11th, 12th, and 13th davs of September next, 

 A. I). ISoO. 



The Ohio State Board of Agriculture, and the 

 Cincinnati Horticultural Society, will also hold their 

 Annual Exhibition at the same time and place, and 

 the latter have geijerously offered to provide for tlie 

 accommodation of the Congress. 



All agmcultural, horticultural, jioinological, and 

 kindred societies in the United States and the Canadas 

 are hereby respectfully invited to send such number 

 of delegates as they may deem expedient. 



In order to facilitate the objects of this association, 

 to promote pomology and the sciences ujion which 

 it depends, to collect and diffuse a knowledge of re- 

 searches and discoveries in this important depart- 

 ment, delegates arc requested to bring with them 

 specimens of the fruits of their respective districts, 

 with lists of the same, and also papers descriptive of 

 their art of cultivation, of diseases and insects inju- 

 rious to vegetation, of remedies for the same, and 

 whatever will add to the interest and utility of the 

 convention. 



Packages of fruit not accompanied by its proprie- 

 tor, may be addressed to the care of Messrs. John F. 

 Dair & Co., Lower Market Street, Cincinnati, O. 

 These should be very distinctly marked, '♦ For the 

 American Pomological Coxgress." 



All societies to be represented in this Congress will 

 please forward certificates of the election of their 

 several delegations to J. B. Russell, Esq., corre- 

 sponding secretary of the Cincinnati Horticultural 

 Society. Delegates will also report themselves at 

 the Burnet House, on the morning of the 11th, 

 where a committee will be in attendance to take 

 charge of their fruits, and from whence the Congress 

 will proceed to the hall assigned for its meetings. 

 MARSHALL P. WILDER, President. 



S. B. Parsons, J> 



P. Barry, > Secretaries. 



Geo. W. Deacon, J 

 July 4, 1850. 



Editors who feel interested in the objects of the 

 above association are respectfully solicited to notice 

 this circular. 



Remarks. — Although this association will be held 

 in a comparatively new part of this new world, yet 

 we shall expect not only numerous and excellent pro- 

 ductions in the west, equal to any thing that can be 

 produced in any part of the world, but a large gath- 

 ering of the most intelligent and most eminent grow- 

 ers of fruit. Already this young region takes the 

 lead in some pomological productions. More straw- 

 berries and grapes arc raised around Cincinnati than 

 in any other section of the country ; and throughout 

 the great west are pomologists second to none in the 

 Union, and the number is large in that region that 

 are doing themselves great honor and the country 

 much good by their zeal and ability in this worthy 

 cause. The doings of the Ohio Fruit Convention, 

 which have been pubUshed for several years, are 

 among the most instructive and reliable works of the 

 kind that have been published in our country. Be- 

 sides the contributions and attendance from the 

 west, other parts of the country will also be well 

 represented. — Ed. N. E. Farmer. 



