54 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Angnst 39, 1832. 



syaw :2sr«s2iiisri£> a»iii2ssii3i2a 



Boston, Wednesday Evening, August 29, 1832. 



ISABELLA GEAPE VINE. 



We have lately liad the pleasure of viewing a 

 grape vine of the Isabella variety, of uncommon 

 thrift and fruitfulness. It belongs to Joseph P. 

 Bradlee, Esq. and stands in the back-yard of his 

 house, 23, Franklin Place, Boston. It is only six 

 years from the seed, is trained to the south side 

 of a high wall, a large extent of which is covered 

 by its luxuriant branches, and decorated by more 

 than one thousand bunches of grapes, which now 

 havea very beautiful appearance, and undoubtedly 

 will be very delicious if this singular season should 

 afford them time and temperature for ripening. 

 Mr Bradlee is well known as an amateur horticul- 

 turist, possessed of a Zealand ardor for the elegant 

 and usefal art of gardening, which merits high 

 encomium. 



The Isabella grape is less valued than it ought 

 to be, on account of its being generally gathered 

 for use or brought to market before it is ripe. Ar- 

 rived at full maturity it is second to few imported 

 grapes, and has the advantage over the foreigners 

 rn its ability to endure our climate. 



FAMILY LYCEUM. 



We have seen two numbers of a publication 

 with this title, lately established in Boston, by Jo- 

 siah llolbrook, the gentleman whose exertions in 

 establishing lyceums in various parts of the United 

 States, have been so indefatigable and efficient. — 

 It is to be published weekly, by George W. Light 

 & Co., No. 3 Cornhill. 



From the specimens which have appeared, we 

 are led to anticipate from this hebdomadal " folio 

 of four pages," results of great utility, i)articularly 

 to the youth of both sexes. The celebrated, but 

 now trite maxim of Bacon, that " Knowledge is 

 Power," applies with much more force to the use- 

 ful sciences to which this paper is devoted, than 

 to mere literature. Indeed too much of our scho- 

 lastic lore maybe styled " knowledge," w'hich con- 

 fers no power, and which ran be of no possible 

 benefit to its possessor. Pope says, " Not to know 

 some trifles is a praise ;" and yet the best and ear- 

 liest part of human existence is generally spent in 

 the acquisition of the " trifles " to which the poet 

 perhaps alluded. But we anticipate from the 

 Family Lyceum, principles and illustrations of that 

 science which makes man lord of the lower world, 

 and gives him that dominion over the realms of 

 nature, to which, by the means of the jiroper de- 

 velopment of his intellectual energies and faculties, 

 he is destined by his Creator. 



We have no doubt but the time is under rapid 

 head \vay,\B which nitrogen, oxrgen, hydrogen, and 

 the rest of theg;ens, sulphates, and sulphites, and the 

 rest of the ales and ilcs, will be household words, 

 and as familiar to the lisp of infancy and the prat- 

 tle of adolescence, as the letters of the alphabet. 



THE FARMER'S OWN BOOK. 



We have received, but have not yet thoroughly 

 perused, a work entitled " The Farmer's Own Book, 

 or Family Receipts for the Husbandman and House- 

 vyife ; being a Compilation of the very best Receipts 

 on Agricuhure, Gardening and Cookery, with Rules 

 for keeping Farmers' Accounts. By H. L. Barnum, 



editor of the Farmer's Reporter. Stereotype edi- i out stones, and surpasses in taste all other sum- 

 tion. Published by Carter & Heiidee, Boston." I mer pears. Its juice is of a vinous sub acid taste, 

 Much prejudice exists against receipts relating i decidedly superior, at least in flavor, to its parent 

 to medicine, agriculture, or other arts. They are j fruit before mentioned. If the green summer 

 generally condemned, as well by sciolists as by sugar pear be suffered to ripen on the tree, it ac- 

 mcn of science, as the emanations of quackery, quires a greenish yellow shade, and its flavor ap- 

 and prescriptions which ought to be ;;roscribcd i preaches to that of the French Sluscat Robert; 

 instead of being p-escribed, in civilized communi- its period of .iiaturation is from the middle to the 

 ties. But receipts are useful if they relate to use- i end of August, and it can be preserved oidy a 

 ful arts, and are correct in their details and direc- ! few weeks after being dci)ositcd on the floor. The 

 tions. They contain, or sliould contain, the nut • tree bears fruit every year, its blossoms resist the 

 without the shell; the kernel without the husk, inost unfavorable weather, and its wood remains 

 Much property has been saved and acquired, much sound in the severest w inters, 

 pain has been mitigated, many cures have been 

 effected and many lives saved by the instrimien- I 

 tality of receipts ; and even newspaper receipts, 

 if originally valuable, are not much the worse for 

 their vehicles of communication. It is true that 

 these receipts are sometimes erroneous, sometimes 

 misunderstood, sometimes misapplied, and are 

 therefore sometimes the cause of injury, attended 

 with deleterious and even fatal consequences. But 

 the pen, the press, the bar, yea, even the pulpit, 

 may be perverted and prostituted ; and the better a 

 thing is, the worse it becomes by its misuse or its 

 misapplication. 



But what is a receipt? It is a list or prescrip- 

 tion of ingredients for any composition, with di- 

 rections for compounding or putting them togeth- 

 er. The whole art of pharmacy consists in little else 

 than a knowledge of various methods of making 

 compositions according to receipts. Perhaps nine 

 tenths of the articles in our druggists' shops are 

 medicines made by or according to receipts. Ev- 

 ery physician who prescribes for a patient makes a 

 receipt. It is true he docs not often publish his 

 ingredients, &c ; but scrawls his prescription in 

 such hieroglyphics that nobody but a conjuror or 

 an apothecary can make anything of it or by it. 

 And if newspaper receipts are necessarily all nos- 

 trums, doctors' prescriptions are a variety of the 

 same genus. The best books of science, such for 

 instance as Davy'sAgricultural Chemistry, Young's 

 Works on Agriculture, &c, &c, are interlarded 

 and checkered with receipts, like plimis in a pud- 

 ding. The patent laws of the United States give 

 peculiar privileges to one who has " invented any 

 new and useful art, machine, manufacture, or com- 

 position of matter, ifc.''' It seems then that rewards 

 are granted by the laws of our country for reccip<«, 

 and if receipts are evidence of quackery the pa- 

 tent law operates as a bounty on emiiiricism. 



But to come back to the " Farmer's Own Book ;" 

 we have, (as before observed) not given it a thor- 

 ough perusal, but what we have read appears to 

 us judiciously compiled. The author has not 

 been guilty of giving us a flood of words, with but 

 a scanty rill of meaning. He seems to have paid 

 a due regard to the time and patience of his read- 

 ers, and not bestowed bushels of chaff for grains 

 of wheat. We think this book ought to be found 

 in the library of every husbandman and house 

 keeper. 



From a German Worl; on Pomology. 



The Green Summer Sugar Pear of Hoyers 

 worda, an excellent new fruit of moderate size 

 and which has taken its origin from the kernel of 

 the winter pear cultivated in Lower Lusatia. It 

 is oblong, but arched towards the bloom, of a 

 grass green shade, spotted in every direction with 

 green and gray dots. The pulp is mellow, with- 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



Saturdii, August 25, 1832. 

 Fruits exhibited this day, were from the gardens 

 of Messrs R. Maiming, Salem, and E. Vose, Dor- 

 chester. 



APPLES. 



By R. Manning, Esq. Bough Apples, not in 

 eating, of good appearance ; Kentish Codlin, n 

 new fruit in this country, of English origin, not 

 n eating, fair and handsome ; Summer Rose, me- 

 dium size, fair surface, color pale and streaked, 

 and for an early fruit will rank whh the best ot 

 the season. 



By E. Vose, Esq. Williams' Favorite, apples of 

 a handsome appearance, good size, and red color, 

 can be safely recommended as an early apple. 



PEARS. 



By R. Manning, Esq. Bell Pear of the Ameri- 

 can gardens, or the True Windsor of the English 

 authors, a handsomi^ large green pear ; as an early 

 fruit it is said to be a good pear for the market, 

 but a worthless one for the table of the epicure. 



PLUMS. 



By Mr Manning, Royal Tours, of good size and 

 a purple color, flesh rich and melting, is said to 

 be a good bearer ; free healthy, and weW worth 

 cultivating. For the committee on fruits, 



B. V. FRENCH. 



FLOWERS. 



Flowers were presented by Messrs Winship of 

 Brighton, consisting of rare specimens sent as a 

 donation by Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin. Also, sev- 

 eral handsome bouquets by Messrs Kenrick, of 

 Newton. 



Mangel ff'itrtzel. — This root is not sufficiently 

 known or cultivated in this country. Last sjiring 

 we bad prepared a piece of ground for early corn, 

 but there being more than we wanted for that 

 purpose, we split the lands and planted half an 

 acre in mangel wurtzel, dropping the seeds one 

 foot apart. We have run a small plough through 

 them twice, and hoed out the weeds once. l^L^ny 

 of the roots are now eighteen to twenty inches in 

 diameter, and eight to twelve long. The piece 

 of ground will undoubtedly yield a greater weight 

 of food for cattle, than could have been obtained 

 from it in any other vegetable. To insure the 

 speedy and general vegetation of mangel wurtzel 

 seed, it should be soaked in warm water twelve 

 hours before planting. The seeds of this, as well 

 as all other beets are a long time in vegetating, 

 and ma!iy never come up at all, when not thus 

 soaked. — Amei-ican Farmer. 



Whiteioash. — A little sulphuric acid is said to 

 make whitewash whiter, and more durable. 



