NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



P ibli^hed by JOHN B. RUSSF.LL, at the cornprofCon^ivss am! I.indall Sdrets, (Six doors finm thi' Post Offin-') Boston.— THOMAS O. FK,3Pr.NDF,N, K.uiTOR 



VOL. III. 



FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 1»25. 



JNo. 45. 



COXamVNXCATZON. 



•10 THE EniTOR OF THE NEW LNGLANt) FARMER. 



Lenox, May 21, 1825. 

 Mr. Fessknde.s- — If yon think Ihe following 

 f^tiiior(!iniii7 age and tecundity of a n:»tive 

 sheep, will inlcres.t any ol your numerous pal- 

 1 Diis v"u can insert it. 



The fnlJowing is a (rue cop}' of Ihe cerdfi- 

 cate. as handed me, (at my re(|uesl) hj Col. 

 Vatlian BarrKlt, a noighhoiir of mine. 



CHARLES MATTOON. 



" Cha?. Mattoon, Esq: I hereby certify, that 

 I have owned a nalire ewe sheep, foi tlie space 

 of nineteen years, lacking a few days; having 

 retained her usual vigour for seventeen years. 

 But in the fall of 1822, I observed for the 

 first time, and with no small degree of interest, 

 that she had slackened her pace, and went in 

 the rear instead of front, which she continued 

 to do for one year. Alter which, having near- 

 ly lost the use of her eyes and teeth, 1 took 



fry, and that many have been assimilated in their 

 hahils to iheir newly adopted climate, an<l as 

 the horticulture of one country must dili'er (rom 

 that of another, and must vary in its nature and 

 objects, defiending on climate, soil, and other 

 local improvement.-!, it is important for us to 

 institute a series of observations and experi- 

 ments with the view to ascertain how far many 

 plants, which are now the staple productions of 

 the South, may be acclimated to higher degrees 

 ol' latitude. The successful experiments of Du 

 Hamel in France, are very instructive on this 

 subject, and will admit of extensive application 

 in the United States." 



" it has been proposed by many of our farm- 

 ers, and numerous experiments in various parts 

 of the United States show the propriety of the 

 suggestion, to furnish a substitute tor spirituous 

 liquors, by obtaining from the fermentation of 

 some of the native fruits of our soil, as from 

 tho«e which are now extensively cultivated in 

 our lields and our cardens, wines, which might 

 take the place of the more expensive produce 



her under my immediate care for the last six j of the grape- 

 months, until March, 1824, when she died with " The apple,* the black-berrij, the currant, the 

 old age— having given me nineteen Seeces of rasp-berry, the goose-berry, and the elder-berry 



wool, and borne me lhirty-si.\ full grown lambs. 

 viz. 



Lambs. Lambs. 



.\pril 1806 1 



1 



2 



Apr. 3 

 Mar. 29 



1806 

 1807 

 180S 

 18t19 

 1810 



Making 6 lambs in 1 1 

 Biouths and 26 days. 



1811 

 1812 

 1313 

 1814 

 'Signed,) 



o 

 3 

 3 

 3 



1815 

 181G 

 1817 

 1818 

 1819 

 1820 

 182! 

 1822 

 1823 

 1824 



1 

 1 





 



Total, ■ 36 

 NATHAN BARRETT.' 



NATIVE FRUITS, WINE, &c. 



?".x!racis from " an Inaugural Discourse, delivered be- 

 fore the J^ttv York Horiicultural Society ; by David 

 Hosack, M. D. F. L. S., President of ihe Socitly ; 

 jaemberofthe Horiicultural Society of London, of 

 the Agricultural Societies of Ghent, Florence, Phila- 

 delphia, J{ew York, kc. 



" Another, among the most important subjects 

 which will invite our attention, is the cultivation 

 of our native fruits. 



" When we recollect, to use the language of 

 Mr Knight, that the golden pippen was derived 

 iVom the austere crab of the woods, and that 

 the numerous varieties of the plum are the 

 produce of the native sloe, we are taught the 

 importance of giving our attention to the nu- 

 merous and hittierto unexplored productions of 

 our native wilds, and are encouraged to believe 

 that many important additions may be made to 

 the table by the enterprise of our members in 

 changing by culture the character of our domes- 

 tit; fruits. When, loo, we see, that many trees 

 have been rendered capable of ripening their 

 fruits in clioiates coldenhan their native coun- 



hive all been successfully made use of for this 

 purpose in various parts of this country ; and 

 wines highly agreeable, obtained from these 

 fruits, are now prepared in very considerable 

 quantities, offered for sale in our cities, and 

 when fashion, and the pnlron.ige of influential 

 individuals, and of public institutions shall re- 

 cominend them to our citizens, I ii;iveno doubt 

 that, with the improvements they will receive 

 irj ttieir preparation, and which will he propor- 

 tioned to the demand, our country will be abun- 

 dantly supplied with domestic winet, calculated 

 to produce all the cordial and salutary effects 

 of, without the evils arising from, the stronger 

 wines of Madeira or France, or the use of ar- 

 dent spirits." 



Extract from Observations 07i Domestic Wines 

 of the United Slates, by the late Dr. Rush.] 



'• It is to be lamented that the grape is not 

 sufficiently cultivated in our country, to aflord 

 wine for our citizen* ; but raanv excellent sub- 

 stitutes may be made lor it, tVum the native 

 fruits of all the States. If two barrels of cider, 

 fresh from the press, are boiled into one, and 

 afterwards fermented, and kept for two or three 

 years in a dry cellar, it affords a liquor, which, 

 according to the quality of the apple I'rom which 

 the cider is made, has the ^aste of Malaga or 

 Rhenish wine. It affords when mixed with wa- 

 ter, a most agreeable drink in summer. 1 have 

 taken the liberty of calling it Fomona Wine. 

 There is another method of making a pleasant 



* See an important cO^nmuicalion on the subject ol" 

 Domestic Wines, by Dr. S.^iniicl I.. .Mitchell; and ob- 

 servations on the seme subject by Dr. lliish in the ap- 

 pendix to this discourse. 



N. B. Dr. Milchill's cominunicatioia was published in 

 the New Ens:land Farmer vol. Ill, page 11)4, and Dr. 

 Rush''3 observations follow this article, in this day's pa- 

 per. 



t See his inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits up- 

 on the human body and luind, p. 17. 



wine from the apple, by adding four and twenty 

 gallons of now cider to throij gallons of svru[> 

 made i'rom the exfire.^sed juice ofsweet apples. 

 When thnrouirhly fermented, and kept for a few 

 years it become-^ (it for use. The blackberrv 

 of our fields, and the raspberry and current of 

 our gafciiens, afford likewise a;i agreeable and 

 wholesome wine, when pressed and mixed with 

 certain proportions of sugar and water, and a 

 little sjiirit to counteract the disposition to ex- 

 cessive fermentation. It is no objection to these 

 cheap and home made wines, that they are un- 

 lit for use till they are two or three years old. 

 The foreign wines in common use in our coun- 

 try, require not only a much longer time to 

 bring them to perfection, but to prevent their be- 

 ing disagreeable even to the taste." 



From Transac/iovs of Ihe Highland Society of Scotland. 



Preparation recommended for the destruction of 

 Insects, and the Pickling of Seed Wheat. By 

 Mr William Pope of Gartymore, near Holms- 

 dale, county of Sutherland. 

 " Hitherto it would appear that no effectual 

 remedy has been discovered to check the des- 

 truction of tlie srrub and catterpiilar vermin, 

 which in orchards and Kilchen gardens occasion 

 so much loss to the industrious garilencr. 



The follovving preparation is humbly recom- 

 mended as a valuable remcdv to vanquish, if not 

 entirely to exterminate all the tribe of vermin 

 that prove so injinious lo the industry of those 

 who cultivate ihe soil : 



Take tobacco" '^lave.-; and cut them small, and 

 make a strcft^ iafusian of them in hot writef 

 poured upon them in a large tub. The infusion 

 must not be boiled m that would carry off in 

 Steam a great part of the most valuable princi- 

 ple, the essential oil of the tobacco. When this 

 infusion i.s cold, dissolve in it one or two jjounds 

 of common gum-arabic; when the arabic is dis- 

 solved, a pound or more of finnv of sulphur may 

 be added, particularly if the infusion is intended 

 to give a smart washing to wall iVuit trees. 



It is humbly conceived that the month of Jan- 

 uary, [the latter part of February or March in 

 this country,] if the weather is soil, is Ihe best 

 season for the application of this infusion to 

 wall fniit-trees, and to all kinds of goose-berry 

 and cuir.int bushes, previously pruning all bush- 

 es, and weeding clean round the stems. Some 

 days after washing with a walering-pot, or gar- 

 den engiire, it would be beneficial to (jrepare a 

 proportion of the infusion with an additional 

 quantity of ihe gum-arabic, to be applied with 

 a brush Jo the stems of the bushes, at least for 

 a foot above the ground. The air of the atmos- 

 phere will generally keep the gum moist; and 

 any vermin that may rise from the earth will 

 be arrested by Ihe gum, and the tobacco will 

 kill them effectually. There is one species of 

 grub that never quits the ground till he be- 

 comes a kind of butterfly. This species des- 

 troys cabbao-es and cauliflowers, by attacking 

 the roots about an inch under the surface of the 

 earth. It would therefore be proper, before 

 these vegetables are hoed up [earthed up,] to 



