1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



131 



ficent style, if you will only furnish the cash. — 

 He knows tiio fosliions better than you, and is en- 

 titled to all the credit of the show, after all. 



But a nice perception of the fitness of things, 

 which is good taste — the faculty of producing har- 

 mony between the occupants of the house and the 

 house itself, and between the house and its furni- 

 ture and surroundings, this is what you do not 

 buy at the upliolsterers, this is beyond price, and 

 a matter, uiiulam, in which it is your province to 

 excel. Let tlie furniture say, as plainly as things 

 can speak, tiiis house is for the comfort of those 

 who live inside of it, and not for mere callers and 



ral journalists, and that many cultivators and 

 amateurs are engaged in this interesting and 

 promising department. The success which ha« 

 crowned their exertions aflbrds great encourage- 

 ment to perseverance. AVitness, for instance, 

 thirty or more varieties of the cherry, by Dr. 

 Kirkland, of Ohio, which appear adapted to our 

 eastern climate, and some of them of superior ex- 

 cellence. Witness the numerous varieties of the 

 raspberry, by Dr. Brinckle, Ex-President of this 

 society, of which, some have endured, without 

 covering, the severities of the lust winter in the 

 New England States, and which also promise to 

 be valuable contributions to American pomology. 

 In addition to these, how many new v;.vrietics of 

 the apple, tlie pear, the plum, and the grape 



strangers. Tiiis carpet is not too good for the; have recently Ijeen added to the list of American 

 children to roll on, this arm-chair will not be fi'uits. IIow many new and excellent varieties 

 soiled by being occupied, and the bright sunlight k the stniwberry iiave appeared since the intro- 

 may visit the inmates, in the morning, bringing 



duction of Mr. liovey's Seedlings 



These are sure indications of the success which 

 will reward future efforts to obtain valuable and 

 native varieties of fruit ; and they point to the 

 fulfilment of tiie prediction of the celebrated Van 

 Mons, "that the time will come when our best 

 fruits will be derived from ssedlings." He gives 

 the following sage counsel to his correspondents, 

 to whom he liad sent trees: "So jo your seed 

 and "persevere without, interruption, and you will 

 obtain even better fruit than inine.^' 



Among pioneers in this department, I ajn hap- 



py to nutiee a gentleman, (now residing among 



On tlie whole, we think the ambition which is us) the pupil and friend of Van IMons, one who 



has adopted our country as his future home, and 

 who has already transplanted to our soil many 

 thousands choice seedlings of the pear which 



health and eheerfulness, without fear that it will 

 fade tlie brilliant colors of the silk and velvet. 

 If when your house is built, and thus furnished, 

 you have money to spare for articles of mere taste 

 and luxury, the world is full of books and pic- 

 tures, and a thousand other things, which will 

 afford to a refined and cultivated mind far more 

 rational enjoyment than a whole warehouse of 

 gilded mahogany. 



so common among all classes, to live in large 

 houses, elegantly furnished, is leading us daily 

 into embarrassments and discomforts, which as a 

 thoughtful and rational people, we ought no Ion 

 ger to suffer. 



AMERICAi'; POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Tliruugh iai jiulit'3 atteutiun of the i'resident 

 of the Society, the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, 

 we have before us a copy of the proceedings of 

 the third session held in the city of Boston on the 

 13th, Uth, and loth of September, 1854. We 

 copy below, from the President's Address at the 

 opening of the Session, that part of it which re- 

 lates to the production from seed of new varieties of 

 fruits adapted to particular localites, or to general 

 cultication. Other extracts will be given under 

 the head Horticulture, in our next number, to- 

 gether with notices of Reports from different 

 States on the subject of growing and preserving 

 fruits. 



"The immense loss to American cultivators, from 

 tlie importation of foreign varieties, in many in- 

 stances not well adapted to the countries from 

 which they eume, and often still less adapted to 

 'W soil and climate, suggests the importance of 

 .aising from seed, native sorts whieh, in most in- 

 stances, possess peculiar advantages. It is now 

 generally conceded that the trees and plants of a 

 given country, like itsab n-iginal inhabitants, will 

 nourish better at home tlian in most foreign lo- 

 calities. 



We rejoice that public attention has been 

 turned to this subject by some of our horticultu- 



choice 

 have come into his possession from the collections 

 of that gentleman and the celebrated Esperen. 



As to the best method of producing fine varie- 

 ties from seed, the opinions of distinguished po- 

 mologists are not uniform. 



DuHAiiEL, among the French, from causes 

 which seem to us irreconcilable witli nature and 

 experience, entertained serious doubts of the 

 practicability of any method for obtaining new 

 and valuable varieties from seed, especially of 

 the pear, because ho had tried various experi- 

 ments without success, for fifty years. 



Dr. Van Moxs, of Belgium, instead of saving 

 the seed of the finest varieties, seleeted those of 

 inferior sorts, upon the principle tli;it a kind hav- 

 ing arrived at the highest state of p^rfeetion, must 

 deteriorate, while an inferior one would improve 

 by successive reproductions. He also held that 

 hybridization tended to degeneracy and imperfec- 

 tion. Thus he assumes the doctrine that a per- 

 fect variety necessarily deteriorates, and also over- 

 looks the fact observed by other distinguished 

 men, that the improvement or deterioration of 

 which he spwiks, may result from natui-al im- 

 pregnation by the pollen of other varieties con- 

 veyed by the air or insects, and therefore that 

 the seed of a good varie ;y may yiroduce either a 

 better or a worse, and that of a bad either a 

 worse or a better. 



^Ir. Knight's system of obtaining new and im- 

 proved varieties, depended entirely on hybridiza- 

 tion or artifieial impregnation so liglitly esteemed 

 by D. Van Mons. This is somewhat difficult to 

 practice on account of natural fertilization by in- 

 sects and the wind ; but it has the merit of de- 



