NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY GEO. C. BARRETT, NO oj. NORTH MARKET STRLET, (at thi; Agricultural VVarkhodse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 

 XI. BOSTON, WEDNESDAY, EVENING, MARCH '20, 1833. N 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 DETERIORATION OF" FRUITS. 



T. O. Fesse.ndkn, IjSQ. Dear Sir, — It is will 

 pleasure tliat I at any time sit down to tlie task of 

 stiiilyiiig llie rleliglitfiil subject of vegetable pbysi- 

 oloffv — but it is witb great reluctance that I pre- 

 sent any thing to yonr readers in relation to it ; 

 aware, as lam, of my inefficiency to do it ample 

 justice ; yet, as it is a subject of great importance, 

 especially so in our state of horticulture and gard- 

 ening, and as I have not observed that any of your 

 numerous correspondents have taken it up, I 

 venture to make a few remarks, begging the in- 

 dulgence of your generous and intelligent readers, 

 for what errors I may have inadvertently made. 



In all books upon gardening, we invariably find- 

 numerous rules for practice, but few reasons given 

 why such a course, or such a practice, should be 

 pursued. To be a sound theoretical, and at the 

 same time a good practical gardener, has been de- 

 nied by many ; an 1, indeed, till Jately, it has been 

 almost impossible to find such an on?, yet at the, 

 present time amongst the wonderfid advancements 

 and improvements of the age, it is no uncommon 

 thing to find both ])rofound theoretical and pracr 

 tical ones. Formerly a gardener was judged of his 

 merits as a grove of " piKes," or "cucumbers;" 

 now of his knowledge of the arrangement of anl 

 arboretum, or the science of hybridizing fruit84uu I 

 flowers, so as to produce with success, new sDit 

 in)])roved varieties ; these remarks are inteut'ed to 

 apply to the English school of gardening. That 

 gardening cannot be brought to the pefection 

 in this country which it has attained ii Great 

 Britain, will not be disputed, yet it can lurdly be 

 thought possible, there are so many ant various 

 obstacles to prevent. This, however, slould not 

 diminish the zeal of any in using their itmost ex- 

 ertions — nor discourage them in any a tempts to 

 rival ill rural landscape, and the nagniliceut 

 scenery of their grounds — nor fall short in variety 

 and excellence, of the productions of the fruits and 

 vegetables of our gardens, those of Great liritaiu, 

 or the continent. 



We are too apt, in the absence of knowledge 

 ourselves, to sneer at the reasons scientific men 

 often urge upon us to pursue; and we keep in 

 the same beaten track which generations before 

 us have gone, leading us oftentimes into error — 

 regarding every new theory as an "innovator." 

 But I come to the subject : — 



The amelioration of fruits is of great importance, 

 and should rank next to their propagation ; by ii 

 our gardens are filled with superior and delicious 

 varieties. Who would recognize in the yellow 

 harvest, or the I'earmain apples, the insignificant 

 acid crab .' or in the luscious Beurre or the Capia- 

 mont, the hard, puckcry fruit found in the woods 

 in their native state. Yet, this is true, the luad 

 and band of man have been, and still are, striving 

 to bring to perfection what nature as it were 

 threw together in a rude state for us to take as it 

 is, or by our mind and reason, to improve and 

 render agreeable to our wants and wishes. There 

 is a tendency in plants undoubtedly given by na- 

 ture, to improve in quality by cultivation — just iu 



the same manner as animals become domesticated 

 liom the wild state, and made usefid to man. By 

 fertilization, by intermixing the pollen of one variety 

 with the stigma of another, has of late become al- 

 most the only method ; and in regard to the 

 knowledge, and the manner in which it should be 

 performed, just so sure are we of an im|)roved 

 variety. This method was not imderstoo<l until 

 ihe discovery of the sexes in plants, but it is now 

 considered as the only controlling power, of which 

 we have any knowledge. 



The saving of seeds of fruit-trees is of great im- 

 portance ; the health, and state of the tree, tlie 

 ipiantity — the quality — and above all, the flavor 

 and beauty of the fruit, should be taken into con- 

 sideration. For in the same ratio that the parent 

 s deficient, the young seedling will partake more 

 )r less, of its nature. But there is I think a great 

 •nor prevalent among our gardeners and horticul- 

 urists, which is the particular cause of my re- 

 narks, and which is fast leading us to bad princi- 

 )l( s ; it is the jiractice which of late we have 

 leen much engaged in, of getting new varieties of 

 ilantsby grafting, or perhajis more pro|)erly, add- 

 ing to our collections new kinds of fruits. That 

 a majority of the new fruits we receive are fine 

 varieties is true, — some, however, are not hardly 

 worth having ; the practice I shall allude to, has 

 undoubtedly been the cause of our having so 

 many synonymous fruits. A tree, or shrub, of 

 superior variety is received by some cf our horti- 

 culturists, who have the good fortune to be ac- 

 quainted with our more distinguished transatlantic 

 friends; it is set out with us and matures fruit, 

 which generally prove true to the kind ; grafts 

 are then taken from it (sometimes even before it 

 has shown a blossom) and oUier trees engrafted 

 — the ojieration succeeds, and before these scions 

 are one year old, they are cut to engraft again — 

 they in their turn are cut — and before another 

 year these are again cut — perhaps by this time, if 

 all are supplied with scions, the tree may be per- 

 mitted to bear, the scions have passed through so 

 many different hands, that the original name may 

 be lost, or if not, the fruit is so widely different in 

 size and flavor that it must have a new name — or 

 it is a new spontaneous variety. This is not all 

 mere theory, hut is founded in physiological 

 knowledge, the original tree may be in good health, 

 that upon which the first fecioii is grafted may not, 

 nor the next, and so on, nor is the kind of stock of 

 little influence ; .some melting pears may be ren- 

 dered hard and breaking (and some breaking ones 

 much improved) by the stock. Another important 

 object in cutting scions is, that they be taken 

 from a bearing tree, one that has acquired its 

 growth ; the more strong and vigorous the shoots, 

 provided it be sound wood, not pithy, being by far 

 the best. If, however, this should not be the fact, 

 is it not better, or at least far safer, that every one 

 should see, or have evidence that the tree from 

 which scions are to be cut has borne fruit, and of 

 good quality? It is, I think, by not attending to 

 this simple practice, and the too greedy desire to 

 possess new fruits, that our catalogues have be- 

 come .so incorrect from the multitude of synonymes. 

 For trees are sold, and sold again and again, 

 without the grower ever ascertaiuing^-by his own 



observation, (not having the opportunity of se- 

 ing the frOit) the quality or the true name of the 

 variety. 



I have extended this to a greater length than I 

 intended ; but not so fir as the subject may be in 

 more capable hands. If, however, you should think 

 these few remarks worthy your consideration, you 

 are at liberty to insert them in your valuable paper, 

 and at some future period I may again tmdertake 

 to make some additional observations. 



Yours respectfully, St. 



Cambridge, March 8, 1833. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SWINE. 



Mr. Ff.ssenden, — Permit me to inquire, through 

 the medium of your useful paper, the best method 

 of managing sows with pigs. There has been a 

 general complaint the past year in this section of 

 the country of sows destroying their young. In 

 rearing the young, both in the animal and vegeta- 

 ble creation, if there is any failure, we can, general- 

 ly, by close investigation assign some physical rea- 

 son and take precautions against the same effect 

 in future. Whether there is any natural cause for 

 the destruction of pigs, or it is owing to the man- 

 agement of them I know not. 



Thousands of pigs are lost every year by farmers 

 without any other investigation or notice of the 

 case than their old sow has eaten or destroyed a 

 fine litter of .'.'igs. I wish that some of your cor- 

 responds r.:c<',voi.;ld have the goodness to answer 

 the following questions, viz : — 



Is it owing to their being separated from the 

 rest of the swine, or is it in the breed or nature of 

 the sow ? and whether a sow was ever known to 

 destroy her first litter and protect her succeeding 

 litters .' Ought the sow to be kept separate from 

 the rest of the swine several weeks or months pre- 

 vious to her bringing forth ? Is there any kind ot 

 food which may be given to them to prevent them 

 from eating their pigs .' Lastly, what is the best 

 form of a stye, and bigness of the yard to be oc- 

 cupied for manure, and for swine to run in ? 



A Constant Reader. 



By the Editor. We should be happy to receive 

 and publish remarks from our correspondents, or 

 any friend to agriculture, on the subjects of the 

 above inquiry, and in the mean time will state 

 what occurs to us relative to the voracity of this 

 vicious animal. 



The Farmer's Assistant observes that " Young 

 sows will sometimes eat their own offspring, which 

 may be prevented by washing the backs of the 

 pigs in an infusion of aloes; and for this purpose 

 the sows must be watched when bringing forth. 

 It is said that supplying them with plenty of water 

 at this time will prevent any mischief taking place 

 of this kind." 



Banister's Husbandry, an English work, has 

 the following remarks on " sows devouring their 

 offspring." 



" So voracious is the swine that it is no uncom- 

 mon circumstuuce for the sows to devour their 



