206 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEti 



JANUARY u, isaa. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JAN. 9, 1833. 



K-ENRICK'S NKW AMERICAN ORCHARDIST, 

 NEW VARIETIES OF FRUIT, &,c. 



We have, heretofore, given our opiuion of this 

 work, concisely, from a cursory \iew of its con- 

 tents ; and subsequent perusals confirm our belief 

 in its utility. We shall not, at present, undertake 

 a formal review of the book, but would remark 

 that such a work was much needed, notwitlistand- 

 ing Thacher''s Orchardist, and other good treatises 

 af the kind woidd seem, in some measure, to have 

 superseded the necessity for Mr. Kenrick's able 

 production. But the science as well as the arts of 

 horticulture have, of late, made such rapid 

 jirogress that a work giving clear and condensed 

 views of the improvements and discoveries made 

 .-^jnce the publication of any similar treatise must, 

 of course, contain much matter which is compar- 

 atively new as well as useful. 



The following, relative to obtaining new and im- 

 5)roved varieties of fruits will, we presume, be 

 read with interest by orchardists. Although the 

 opinions and theories, which it advances are not 

 in consonance with those of our correspondent S. 

 M. (whose communication on this subject is given 

 in thi.s day's paper) it may lead to further discus- 

 sion, and eventuate in the establishment of a cor- 

 rect theory relating to important objects tff culture. 

 " M. Poiteau, when speaking of the decline of 

 The old French varieties of Pears in the vicinity of 

 Paris, and the urgent necessity of a renewal of 

 the kinds has informed us in the Annals d'Horti- 

 cidture for May, 1828, that notwithstanding the 

 imwearied efforts which have been made in that 

 country during several of the latter ages, by their 

 most intelligent cultivators, in rearing new and 

 valuable varieties from the seed ; yet such at- 

 tempts having been conducted on wrong princi- 

 ples have resulted in " absohtte nothingness." 

 They ihiist, he asserts, look elsewhere for new 

 varieties to replace the old : — anywhere else but to 

 Iheir oien country ; — even to America, but more 

 especially <o Belgium. 



" The same writer furtlicr informs us that the cel- 

 ebrated Dtthnmel, during the long course of his 

 scientific caVecr, planted the seeds of all the best 

 i'ruits which were eaten at his table, without being 

 able to produce a shigle fruit worthy of cultivation. 

 " Others in that Country — as the Alfoys, for a 

 succession of generations, have adopted the same 

 i;ourse, planting the .seeds of the very best fruits 

 with no better success. 



" It would thus appear that all the finest 

 varieties of apples and pears having been raised in 

 successive generations 'of fruit li-oni the original 

 crabbed and worthless origin, that after the im- 

 provements has gone on for five or sis generations, 

 to the production of perfect fruit, it can be carried 

 no further ; that exhausted nature, if urged be- 

 yond certain bounds recedes, and a retrograde 



course commences. For the seeds of the best 

 fruits, which are sown she generally gives back 

 nought but the worthless. In illustration of the 

 truth of this position, Mr. Poiteau has stated it as 

 a fact, recorded by several authors, that the seeds 

 of the Winter Bon Chretien always produces a 

 detestable fruit. And Mr. Knight has positively 

 asserted that the seed of the wild pear, fertilized 

 by the stamens of the blossoms of an ameliorated 

 one, will yield a better fruit than the seeds of an 

 ameliorated pear. 



" The mode, however, adopted in Belgium 

 with such wonderful success in procuring new 

 and extrordiuary varieties, differs very materially 

 from the process of Mr. Knight : for it a])pears 

 that they commence by simply sowing the seeds, 

 not of the best but rather of the most austere and 

 indifferent varieties, for a succession of a few 

 generations, till the perfect sorts are jiroduced." — 

 Kenrick''s Orchardist. pp. 15, 16. 



Again in treating of the same subject, Mr. 

 Kenrick quotes the following passage from the 

 Annals d'Horticulture, for May, 1828 : — 



" The Belgians give no preference to the seeds 

 of table fruits, when they plant to obtain new 

 ameliorated kinds. When their plants api)ear, 

 they do not, like us, found their hopes upon indi- 

 viduals exempt from thorns, furnished with large 

 leaves, and remarkable for the size and beauty of 

 their wood ; on the contrary they prefer the most 

 thorny subjects, provided that the thorns are long, 

 and that the plants are furnished with many btuls 

 or eves, placed very near together. This last cir- 

 cmnstanco appears to them, and with rea-son to he 

 an indication that the Uee will speedily produce 

 fruit. As soon as the young individuals, which 

 offer these favorable appearances afford grafts or 

 buds capable of being inoculated upon other 

 stocks, these operations are performed ; the np 

 pies on paradise and the pears on quince stocks, 

 to hasten their fructification. The first fruit is 

 generally very bad, but the Belgians do not regard 

 that ; whatever it is, they carefully collect the seeds 

 and plant them ; from these a second generation 

 is produced, which commonly shows the com- 

 mencement of an amelioration. As soon as the 

 young plants of the second generation have scions 

 or buds proper for the purpose, they are trans- 

 ferred to other stocks, as were the preceding ; tjie 

 third and fourth generation are treated in the same 

 manner, and until there are finally produced ame- 

 liorated fruits worthy of being propagated. M. Van 

 Mons asserts that the peach and apricot treated in 

 this manner, afford excellent fruit in the third 

 generation. The apple does not yield superior 

 fruit before the fourth or fifth generation. The 

 pear is slower in its amelioration ; but M. Van 

 Mons informs us, that in the sixth generation, it 

 no longer produces inferior, but affords excel- 

 lent fruits intermixed with those of middling 

 quality." 



For the Xfw England Farmer. 

 RECEIPT FOR OOOD HOUSE SOAP, &.C. 



Having lately returned from the sea-shore, 

 where the house-keeper had but twenty bushels 

 of ashes, he informed me that he made a barrel 

 of su]>erior soft soap with ten bushels of clam 

 shells burnt, added to the above (piantity of ashes. 

 Clam shells not only make good soap but the 

 whitest and the best cement, and the best of lime 

 for mortar and white- wash for ceilings. 



Yours, &c. H. S. 



We find the following in an old almanac. We 

 do not ymdertake to insure its efficacy, but are- 

 sure that it can do no harm, and would therefore 

 advise its trial. 



' A medical friend iuforn)S us, that after exer- 

 cising his utmost skill to euro, or even alleviate u 

 very distressing case of head-ache, in a distinguish- 

 ed character, in which he was unsuccessful, after 

 the use of bark, valerian, steel, assafietida, njagne- 

 sia, volatile alkali, mineral acids, mercury and 

 arsenic : an old woman proposed the use of njt'M',. 

 by. taking a tumbler three times daily, which ef- 

 fected a cure. A head-ache very generally pro- 

 ceeds from the disordered state of the liipior of 

 the stomach, (gastric juice.) Perhaps the milk 

 may |)n)diice its benefii'ial effects by neutralizing 

 acids and thereby removing the irritation in the 

 nerves of the stomach, which directly .sympathize 

 with those of the head. 



Cellars. We should suppose the health of the 

 family would be promoted, and the warmth of the 

 cellar increased, by having it well cleaned out, 

 wliite-wtLshcd, and the bottom covereil with one to 

 three inches of tan-liark. — .Yorlhern Fanner. 



Orchards. Rather than let hired help be idle, 

 have all the dry fuubs cut out and brought home 

 for fuel. If any of the trees bear a worthless ap- 

 ple or is so far decayed as to be of little value, cut 

 them down, and send to the nurseries for the very 

 best variety to supply their place. — Ih. 

 CONVERTIBILITY OF -WHEAT INTO CHESS, 



A LATE number of the Genesee Farmer, has the 

 following observations on the much controverted 

 subject of the coutrovertibility of wheat into chess. 



As popular, errors grow not without roots, we 

 have long been inquisitive why farmers have come 

 to so strange a conclusion ; and the various ways 

 in which they have been mistaken in their obser- 

 vations, have to us been deeply interesting. As 

 an instance of ocular deception timely detected wc 

 subjoin an extract of a letter receivc^d a few days 

 ago from a valuable friend in a neighboring coun- 

 ty, on this very subject ; and wc only regret 

 that he has forbidden us to adorn our columns 

 with his name. We can assure our readers how- 

 .■ver, that while he discharges the arduous duties 

 of a very important oflice, to the satisfaction of 

 men of all parties, he ir, proving on a large scale 

 that farming may be made a profitable business. 



" A few years ago I observed a rank bunch of 

 rye and chess standing in a wet spot (such as is 

 l)elicved to convert wheat into chess) which had 

 escaped the scythe of the cradler. It appeared to 

 be one plant with different branches from the 

 same root. I pulled it up, and upon a sujjcrficial 

 examination thought here was proof positive of the 

 transformation, which I had so often denied to be 

 possible. For a moment my pride of ojiiuion was 

 humbled : and I felt what T h-' ""■•-•• — '^ for 



