10 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



July 25, 1832. 



them from ruin. Applied in mass, lime is destruc- 

 tive to vegetation. So is manure, and so is water. 

 The Sim has just broke out, after a continued 

 rain of thirtytwo hours, and business calls me 

 out. I leave the decision to the impartial judg- 

 ment of our intelligent yeomanry, for whose ben- 

 efit we have both embarked in the controversy. 

 Albany, Juli/, 1832. B. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mr Fessenden — Will you, or some one of your 

 correspondents do me the favor to furnish through 

 the medium of the New England Farmer, the 

 history and pedigree of the imported bull "Ad- 

 miral." 



From whose herd was lie selected, and what 

 was his original name ? I fancy it may have been 

 changed. He was probably a Herd Book animal, 

 and that being the case, you are doubtless aware, 

 that a change of name after being entered, would 

 deprive him of his place in that correct and valu- 

 able Register of English short horned cattle. 

 The fact is important to all who have bred from 

 Admiral, as it must aftect materially the value 

 of his stock. 



In this country we do not attach sufficient con- 

 sequence to a well authenticated pedigree. We 

 judge simply of the individual without inquiring 

 into the family or descent. Hence it is, that many 

 have been disappointed, and hence, the frequent 

 complaints in your paper against Short Horned 

 Cattle. 



The truth is, that high prices have often been 

 paid for animals imported from the " Cotv Keep- 

 ers" of England and not the established breeders 

 of the country. It is within my own knowledge, 

 that an individual near Liverpool, who keeps a 

 large number of cows, to siqiply the^ity with 

 milk, has constant orders from this country for 

 animals. They come out as full bloods, with 

 ample pedigrees on paper, when in fact, they are 

 only mixed bloods and their pedigrees cannot he 

 traced. Let those gentlemen who complain of 

 the defects of their Durham Short Horned Cattle, 

 endeavor to trace them in the Herd Book, and then 

 perhaps, they will cease to wonder, that they are 

 no better. 



Yours, &c, A BREEDER. 



Springfield, July 17, 1832. 



Reinfliks by tiie Editor. 



It is not in our power fully to comply with the 

 wishes of our correspondent, but we will state 

 what we know relative to the subject of his in- 

 quiry. 



At a meeting of the trustees of the Jlassachu- 

 setts Agricultural Society, held the 21st day of 

 August, 1823, some me.asures were adopted rela- 

 tive to the donation of the Bull Admiral, by Sir 

 Isaac Coffin to the trustees of the said society. 

 And among other proceedings it was 



" Voted, that the thanks of this Board be pre- 

 sented by the Corresponding Secretary to Admiral 

 CoFFirf for his very valuable present, and that he 

 express to him their sense of his patriotism, and 

 attachment to his native soil, which neither time 

 nor distance had been competent to weaken. 



" That the animal presented by him is a noble 

 one, and aftbrds in his own person, proof of his 

 descent from the most approved stocks, independ- 

 ent of the historical pedigree which accompanies 

 him." In a subsequent paragraph of the same 



document it is asserted that "His pedigree is as 

 follows : got by Mr Wetherell's North Star ; dam 

 by Comet ; grandam by Wellington ; grcat-gran- 

 dam by Gran by. North Star was by Comet; 

 dam by Baronet ; grandam by Cripple ; g. gran- 

 dam by Irishman; g. g. grandam by Hubback. " 

 We have not a copy of the Herd Book, and 

 can give no other information than the above rel- 

 ative to the animal in question. We should be 

 greatly obliged to any person who would do us 

 the favor to comply with the request ol" our cor- 

 respondent, and state in our paper the lineage, 

 qualities, &.c, of the imported Bull Admiral. 



We copy the following article from the Sylva Anieii- 

 cana, or a description of the forest trees iudigenous to the 

 United States. By D. J. Browne. 



BLACK OR QUERCITRON OAK. 



Quercus tinctoria. 



Except the state of Maine, the northern part of 

 New HampsUire, Vermont and Tennessee, this 

 species is found throughout the United States on 

 both sides of the Alleghanies and is everywhere 

 called Black Oak, except in some parts of New 

 England, where it is called Yellow Oak. \t is more 

 abundant in the Middle States, and in the upper 

 parts of the Carolinas and Georgia, than on the 

 southern coast. It flourishes in p poorer soil than 

 the white oak. In Maryland and certain districts 

 of Virginia, where the soil is lean, gravelly and 

 uneven, it is constantly united in the forests with 

 the scarlet, Spanish and post oaks, and mockernut 

 hickory, with which the yellow pine is also fre- 

 quently mingled. There are several varieties of 

 this species of oak, all of which aftbrd the quer- 

 citron bark, so highly esteemed in dyeing, staining, 

 tanning, etc. 



This oak is one of the loftiest trees of the 

 American forests, being 80 or 00 feet high and 4 or 

 5 feet in diameter. The trunk is covered with a 

 deeply furrowed bark of middling thickness, and 

 generally of a black or very deep brown color, 

 whence probably is derived the name of Black 

 Oak. Northeast of Pennsylvania the complexion 

 of the hark is the only character by which it can 

 be distinguished from the red, scarlet and gray 

 oaks, when the leaves are fallen. Farther south 

 this character is not sufficient to distinguish it 

 from the Spanish oak, whose bark is of the same 

 color, and recourse must be had to the buds,which 

 on the black oak are longer, more acuminate, and 

 more scaly. AH doubt may be removed by chevy- 



ing a bit of the cellular integument of each : that 

 of the black oak is very bitter and gives a yellow 

 tinge to the saliva, which is not the case with the 

 other. The leaves are large, deeply laciiiiated, 

 and divided into four or five lobes : they resemble 

 those of the scarlet oak, but have less deep and op- 

 en sinuses, are less shining, of a duller green, and 

 in the spring and during a part of the summer 

 have their surface roughened with small glands 

 which are sensible to the eye and to the touch. 

 The same appearance is observed on the young 

 shoots, the leaves which change in the autumn to 

 a dull red, and those of the old trees to yellow, 

 beginning with the petiole. This tree fructifies 

 once in two years and its flowers put forth in IM«y. 

 The acorns generally grow in clusters, are of a 

 brown color, sub-sessile and about half buried in 

 a thick, scaly cup. This species is more remark- 

 able than any other for producing the oak apple. 



The wood is reddish and coarse grained, with 

 em|ity pores ; it is, however, more esteemed for 

 strength and durability than that of any other oak 

 of biennial fructification. As it is abundant in 

 the Middle and Northern States, it furnishes a 

 larg(> proportion of the red oak staves exported to 

 the West liidies, or employed at home to contain 

 flour, salted provisions and molasses. It is said 

 to furnish the best of fuel except the hickories. 

 The bark is extensively used in tanning, as it is 

 easily procured and is rich in tannin. The only 

 inconvenience which attends it is imparting a yel- 

 low color to the leather, which must be discharged 

 by a particular process, to prevent its staining the 

 stockings ; it is a great error to assert that this col- 

 .or augments its value. From the cellular integn- 

 raeiit of the black oak is obtained the quercitron, 

 of which great use is made in dyeing wool, silk 

 aB»l paper hangings. This substance was first 

 prepared as a dye by Dr Bancroft : he has given 

 it the name of quercitron, by which it is now uni- 

 versally recognised. 



Before extracting the color from the bark, the 

 epidermis, or external covering, ought to be re- 

 moved by shaving. The remaining parts being 

 then properly ground by mill stones, separate part- 

 ly into a light, fine powder, and |)artly into stringy 

 filaments or fibres, which last yield but about half 

 as much color as the powder, and therefore care 

 ^^hnuld be always taken to employ both together, 

 and as nearly as possible in their natural propor- 

 tions, otherwise the quantity of color produced 

 iii.iy either greatly exceed or fall short of what 

 ii):iy be expected. The quercitron thus prepared 

 and proi)ortioned, says Dr Bancroft, will generally 

 yield as much color as eight or ti n times its weight 

 of the weld plant, and about four times as much 

 as its weight of the chipped fustic. The coloring 

 matter, continues he, most nearly resembles that 

 of the weld plant; with this advantage, however, 

 that it is capable alone of producing more cheaply 

 all, or very nearly all, the effects of every other 

 yellow dyeing drug ; and, moreover, some effects 

 which are not attainable by any other means yet 

 known. The coloring matter of quercitron read- 

 ily dissolves in water, even at blood heat. If the 

 infusion be strained and left at rest, a quantity of 

 resinous matter subsides in the form of a whitish 

 powder, which produces the same eftijcts in dye- 

 ing as the part remaining in solution. The clear 

 effusion being evaporated and dried, affords an ex- 

 tract equal in weight to about one twelfth of the 

 bark from which it is obtained. Much care, how- 

 ever, must be em|doyed in procuring this extract, 



