1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



137 



their appropriate food. All know how difficult j which produce it, can be admitted or excluded at 

 it is to make a fruit tree flourish on the spot pleasure. It is possible, however, to preserve the 

 from which an old tree of the same species has temperature at so low a degree and for so long a 

 been removed. time as to destroy, especially with some varieties 



The great practical question now agitating the i of the pear, the vitality, and therefore all power, 

 community is : Ilow shall we ascertain Avhat fer- 1 ever to n^f ume the ripening process. Experience 

 tilizing elements arc appropriate to a particular proves that f»r the common varieties of the apple 

 species of vegetation ? To this, two replies are and p' ar, about forty degrees of Farenheit is the 

 rendered. Some say, analyse tlie crop; others, temperature best suited to hold tliis j^rocess in 

 the soil. Each, we think, maintains a truth ; equilibrium. 



and both together, nearly the whole truth. We The proper maturing of fruit thus preserved, 

 need the analysis of the cro}:) to teach us its in- demands' skill and science. Different varieties 

 gredients, and that of the soil to ascertain i require different degrees of moisture and heat, 

 whether it contains these ingredients; and if it according to the firmness of the skin, the texture 

 does not, what fertilizers must bo applied to 'of the flesh, and the natural activity of the juices, 

 supply them. Thus, by analysis, we learn that I Thus, some varieties of the pear will ripen at a 

 nearly one-quarter part of the constituents of the low temperature and in a comparatively dry at- 

 pear, the grape and the strawberry, consists of mosphere, while others, as the Eastern Beurre, are 

 potash. This abounds in new soils, and pe- improved by a warm and humid air. 

 culiarly adapts them to the productions of these Some varieties of the pear, ripening with diffi- 

 fruits, but having been extracted from soils long culty, and formerly esteemed only second -rate, 

 under cultivation, it is supplied by wood-ashes or are now pronounced of excellent quality, because 



potash, the value of which has of late greatly in 

 creased in the estimation of cultivators. 



There is but one other topic to which I will ad- 

 vert, — the 'preservation and ripening of fruit. 



Much progress has been made in this art within 

 a few years, and important results have been at- 

 tained. The principle has been settled that the 

 ripening process can be controlled. Autumnal 

 fruits have been kept and exhibited the succeed 

 ing spring. We have seen the Seckel, Bartlett, 

 and Lou ise bonne de Jersey pears in perfection in 

 January, and even later. The maturity of fruits 

 depends on saccharine fermentation. This is fol- 

 lowed by other fermentations, as the vinous and 

 ascetous. To prevent these, and preserve fruit in 

 all its beauty, freshness and flavor, the tempera 

 turo must be uniform, and kept below the degree 

 at which the fermentation or the ripening process 

 commences. Our remarks, like our experience, 

 have special regard to the apple and the pear, 

 though tlie principle is doubtless susceptible of a 

 more extensive application. Fruits, designed to 

 be kept for a considerable time, should be gath- 

 ered with great care some days before the ripen- 

 ing process commences, especially summer pears. 

 A summer pear ripened on the tree is generally 

 inferior. In respect to the latter, Mr. Barry, 

 editor of the Horticulturist, has so aptly expressed 

 my own sentiments, that I use his language. 

 'The process of ripening on the tree, which is the 

 natural one, s?ems to act upon the fruit for the 

 benefit of the seed, as it tends to the formation of 

 woody fibre and farina. When the fruit is re- 

 moved from the tree, at the very commencement 

 of ripening, and placed in a still atmosphere, the 

 natural process seems to be counteracted, and 

 sugar and juice are elaborated instead of fibre 

 and farina. Thus, pears which become mealy 

 and rot at the core when left on tlic tree to ripen, 

 become juicy, melting and delicious when ri- 

 pened in the house.' Various fruit-houses have 

 been built, both in this country and in Europe • 

 and experience shows that their object can be at 



the art of maturing them is better understood. 



But so many experiments have been tried, or 

 are in progress, and so much has been written on 

 this branch of our subject, that I need not en- 

 large except to say that the art of preserving and 

 ripening fruit in perfection, involves so much 

 scientific knowledge as to require great attention 

 and care ; and, until its laws are more fully de- 

 veloped, must be attended with considerable diffi- 

 culty. I therefore commend it to your special 

 attention, as second in importance only to the 

 raising of new varieties. 



But I will not prolong these remarks. Your 

 own observation and experience will readily sug- 

 gest other felicitous illustrations of the principles 

 to Avhich I have adverted. I will merely re-a£Brm 

 what our friend Thomas has so justly asserted, 

 'that fruit and fruit trees, in all stages of their 

 existence, need care and attention.' I will add, 

 also, that here, as in every other department of 

 cultivation, eternal vigilance is am. indispensable 

 condition of success\^' 



IMPORTANCE OF FOREST TREES. 



[The following is an extract from a paper read 

 by Dr. Hawks, before the Geographical Society of 

 New York :] 



"Civilization uses a vast amount of wood, al- 

 though for many purposes it is being fast super- 

 ceded ; but it is not the necessary use oficood thai 

 is sweeping away the forests of the United States, 

 so 7nuch as its wanton destruction. We should 

 look to the consequences of this. Palestine, once 

 well-wooded and cultivated like a garden, is now 

 a desert — the haunt of Bedouins ; Greece, in ber 

 palmy days the land of laurel forests, is now a 

 desolate waste ; Persia and Babylon, in the cra- 

 dles of civilization, are now covered l)eueath the 

 siind of deserts produced l)y the eradication at 

 It is comparatively easy to 



their forests. It is comparatively easy to eradi 



-J .,„ cate the forests of the North, as they are of a ere-. 



tained only by a perfect control of the tempera- garious order — one class succeeding another; out 

 turc, moisture and light. Hence, they must be the tropical forests, composed of innumerable va-t 

 cool, with ncm-conducting walls, or with exterior rieties, growing together in the most demociratio 

 and interior walls, or a room within a room, union and equality, are never eradicated. Even 

 Thus the external atmosphere, which either stivrtalin llindostan all its many millions of population 

 the eaccharinc fermentatioa or conveys the agents | have never been able to conquer the phconix-life 



