NEW EMCJI^AMB FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY GEO. C. 15.VRRETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agiucultukal Warkhodse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 9, 1833. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



For the New E/tslcind Farmer. 

 AMEMORATION OF FRUITS. 



Mr. Fessenden, — Will you permit me to make 

 a few suggestions and remarks in your paper on 

 the ideas that have hcen advanced upon fruits and 

 fruit trees, and particularly the amelioration or 

 introduction of new fruits. In the 8th vol. of the 

 N. E. Farmer, j). 221, was published a niertioir by 

 Professor Poiteau, containing what appeitred to be 

 considered as a new discovery in relation to the 

 production of new varieties of fruit. It was trans- 

 lated by the able and accomi)lished President of 

 the Mass. Horticultural Society, to whom may I 

 be allowed to pay a passing tribute of respect, and 

 to express the hope that he may not relinquish the 

 delightful scenes of the garden, to mingle in the 

 stormy arena of political life. Although the tiilents 

 of Gen. Dearborn qualify him to shine in any 

 sphere, yet, may he not rather leave the mainte- 

 nance of the great principles and interests of our 

 government to the Websters and Everetts, and let 

 his be the mor^ peaceful, exalted and enduring 

 lame of Duhamel, of Evelyn, of meek Isaac Wal- 

 ton, of Knight and Van Mous. Having mentioned 

 Isaac Walton, allow me to grace the pages of your 

 Journal with a quotation from Wordsworth's Ec- 

 clesiastical Sketches, in which Walton's biographi- 

 cal pieces are extolled in some of the sweetest 

 strains to be found in the compass of English 

 poetry. 



" There are no color^iii ibe fairest sky 



So fair as these. The'reather whence the pen was s'hapt^U 



That traced the lives of tKese good men 



Dropped from an au"^el's wine. With moisten'd eve 



We read of faith and purest charity 



In statesman, priest and humble citizen. 



Oh, could we copy their mild virtues, then - 



What joy to live, what blessedness to die ! 



Methinks their very names shine still and brig^ht, 



Apart like glow worms in the woods of spring. 



Or lonely tapers, shooting far a light 



That guides and cheers, — or seen like stars on high. 



Satellites turning in a lucid ring 



Around meek Waltoii, heavenly memory.'' 

 To return to the subject of fruits. Notwith- 

 standing the authority in support of the views of 

 Professor Poiteau, I canuot perceive the correct- 

 ness of the principles or reasoning ou which they 

 are based. He maintains (if I correctly under- 

 stand him,) that in order to produce the best varie- 

 ties of fruit, particularly pears, that instead of 

 sowing the seeds of the best varieties we should, 

 on the contrary, sow the seeds of the poorest and 

 most austere sorts; and, as a reason for this prac- 

 tice asserts, " that it is only progressively and 

 slowly that she" (nature) "grants us what we de- 

 mand of her, while she receives back, and immedi- 

 ately again causes to re-enter her domain, the ame- 

 liorated fruits which we," &c. In support of this 

 doctrine he appeals to the results of nature in this 

 country particularly, and likewise to the jjractice 

 of Van Mons, and other Dutch Pomologists. 



As to the results of nature in this country, when- 

 ever the origin of improved varieties of fruits is 

 known, it has been, I believe, generally derived 

 from the ameliorated varieties, and when not known, 

 has generally been ascribed to the same source. 

 Neither does the practice of Van Mons, as far as I 

 have learned it, bear him out in his new views. 

 In oue statement I have seen of the process of 



Van Mons in raising new ameliorated fruits, he is 

 a.sserted to take the seeds promiscuously, without 

 regard to the quality of the fruit. He indeed says, 

 according to another account, that tlie seeds of the 

 new varieties are more likely to produce fruits of 

 good quality than the seeds of the -best old estab- 

 lished kinds, but this if true may be exi>lained 

 upon another principle, which I shall presently 

 state, much more rational than that adopted by 

 Professor Poiteau. Indeed, does not the doctrine 

 of Prof. P. carry an absurdity in its very face, for 

 ou his theory when a S])ecies of fruit has become 

 improved to a certaifl degree by successive ame- 

 liorations, it iinniediately returns by reproduction 

 to its ol'igiuarausterity. Nay, he further requires 

 us to believe that all our cultivated sorts have ar- 

 rived at that particular, (and of course the same) 

 point of amelioration, the contrary of which we 

 well know ; aud of course upon his theory tho.se 

 which have not arrived at this point should con- 

 tinue to improve by reproduction, and thus de- 

 stroy the practical inference which he deduces 

 from his fheorj', or rather disprove the facts from 

 which he incorrectly draws his theory. It is at 

 war also with the analogy of other modes of vege- 

 table and animal existence in which it is a general 

 law that like produces like. What should we think 

 of a gardener who should direct us to save the 

 seeds of the poorest vegetables to plant and sow 

 instead of the best. It is contrary to the opinions 

 of distinguished writers ou vegetable physiology 

 and economy. Sir Humphrey Davy in his Agri- 

 cultural Chemistry, remarks, " A hundred seeds 

 of the Golden Pippin will all produce fine large 

 leaved apple trees bearmg fruit of a considerable 

 size, but the tastes and colors of the apples from 

 each will be different, &c. All, however, will be 

 much more perfect than those from the seeds of 

 a crab, which produces trees all of the same kind, 

 and all bearing sour and diminutive fruit." 



That the seeds of youug and healthy varieties 

 will be more likely to produce good fruit than 

 those of old and decayed varieties of the same 

 quality " reposes upon well attested analogies" and 

 is doubtless true. This is distinctly affirmed by 

 Mr. Knight, and it is also asserted by a writer in 

 your paper, vol. 7, p. 28, to be the opinion of Mr. 

 Van Mons, and it is probably the ground of his 

 extraordinary success, connected with the discovery 

 that the product of a tree the first year of its bear- 

 ing aflbrds no fair criterion of the future merit of 

 the fruit. This doctrine will explain the opinion 

 of Van Blons before adverted to, that the seeds of 

 new varieties ajre more likely to produce good 

 fruit than the Seeds even of the best old establish- 

 ed sorts. 



The variation of fruits produced from seed al'- 

 fords an interesting subject for speculation to the 

 horticulturist and vegetable physiologist, and is 

 well worthy of careful examuiation and more ex- 

 tended exi)eriment. From all the well attested 

 facts that have come to my knowledge, I am in- 

 clined to believe that nature acts by no fixed rules 

 in the production of varieties of the same species. 

 By some it is su])posed to be caused by an admix- 

 ture of the pollen of different varieties, which causes 

 the ofispriug to vary from the parent, but if this 

 were the case, how did the first varieties originate ? 



There is probably a difli^rence in the tendency of 

 different varieties to break into other varieties, ae 

 we know there is in the species, and this may ac- 

 count for the facts that have led persons to sup- 

 pose that the seedling would produce the same 

 fruit as the parent were there no admixture of the 

 pollen. Every one knows that the fruit of a seed- 

 ling peach is much more likely to produce fruit 

 similar to that of the parent thau that of the apple. 

 Wm. R. Prince, Estp, a high authority on such 

 subjects, in describing a certain kind of peach, 

 states that it possesses the quality of producing 

 very nearly the same frtiit from the seed. 



It will be seen that I have rather intimated my 

 belief in the theory of Mr. Knight, concerning the 

 deterioration of fruits by age. As however it is a 

 matter of great practical importance to cultivators 

 of fruits and fruit trees, I could wish, notwith- 

 standing the subject was formerly discussed at 

 considerable length in your columns, to see the 

 opinions of some of the most distinguished cuiti' 

 vators, together with such additional facts as 

 might be adduced in support of them. It is gen- 

 erally believed in this part of the country that what 

 is here called the Bell pear (which I suppose to be 

 the same with the Summer Bon Chretien) is near- 

 ly run out, as it seldom produces any good fruit, 

 »nd this is the fact, as well of the young as of the 

 old trees. 



Why is it that the Kentish morello, or common 

 cherry, thrives so badly and seldom produces any 

 fair fruit .' Is it owing to its having been propa- 

 g."'ed from suckers, or is this also one of the 

 varieties approaching the nihility of old age. I 

 observe, however, they produce much better in the 

 more recently settled parts of the country. 



Although this communication has extended to 

 an imexpected length, yet I cannot dismiss the 

 subject without referring to the facts, shown by 

 an examination of it, that are of practical impor- 

 tance to the cultivators of fruits from the seed and 

 these are, to sow the seeds of varieties known to be 

 young and vigorous ; aud other circumstances be' 

 ing the same, viz. age, vigor of growth, &c. to 

 prefer the seeds of good fruits, especially of large 

 and fair kinds, to those of an opposite quality ; 

 and not to be discouraged by the first ])roduct not 

 answering your expectations, but to wait a year or 

 two or more, for the fuller developeraent of the 

 qualities of the fruit. Engrafting the seedling on 

 an older stock likewise appears to hasten the pro- 

 duction of fruits. Attention is also to be paid to 

 the varieties sown, as it is rendered quite probable 

 that seedlings of some varieties of all fruits will 

 approximate more nearly to the parent than of 

 others. M. S. 



Berlin, Ct. Dec. 24, 1832. 



For tlir J\'ew England Farmer. 

 'WXLD TURKEYS. 



Dec. 31, 1832. 

 Mr. Editor, — Should you deem the following 

 worthy an insertion in your valuable paper, you 

 will please insert it. 



It is a curious fact, but one which we may every 

 day discover to our sorrow, that amid all the zeal 

 anl ardor of investigation, the plainest truths es- 

 cape our notice. It is the end of science to im- 

 prjve and enlighten mankind, by taking those steps, 



