No. 6. 



Peach Trees. — Friesland Sheep. — Eimir. 



183 



some time to come, must be of no account, of 

 course : would any of your readers, wlio know 

 about them, be pleased to inform us of their 

 well or ill-fare 1 But I cannot think that the 

 bulls, which were exhibited with them, were 

 good, even of their lynd ; valuable, however, 

 to perpetuate the breed, but for no other pur- 

 pose ; to cross these animals with any other 

 stock would be, in my estimation, to render 

 them totally worthless — true, they might pos- 

 sibly be made to carry more flesh, but just 

 in that proportion would their milking pro- 

 perty be sacrificed, and they would, at best, 

 be but a valueless substitute, either for the 

 short-horns or the Alderneys. 



John Owenson. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Peach Trees. 

 Gentlemen of great experience in the cul- 

 tivation of the peach assert that the decay of 

 this valuable tree is, in a great measure, and j 

 principally owing to the practice of grafting : 

 an imperfect union takes place ; sickly growth 

 is the consequence, and the diseased tree is 

 then rendered vulnerable to the attacks of the 

 worm, which completes its destruction. 



Now, if we would have healthy peach 

 trees, we must not do violence to nature ; we 

 must cultivate from the stone ; and although 

 we might find some bad and worthless fruit, 

 we shall have much that is excellent, and ob- 

 tain new and valuable varieties, by planting 

 the seeds of those only which are very supe- 

 rior. A gentleman has just informed us that 

 he lias obtained peaches of most delicious fla- 

 vour from trees the third year from the plant- 

 ing of the stone, without grafting or budding : 

 and by far the finest peaches exhibited at the 

 late horticultural meeting in Philadelphia, 

 bearing the name of the Tippecanoe Peach, 

 were produced by the above means, the 

 planter, it is said, having reserved the stone 

 of a remarkably fine peach, which he pur- 

 chased in the Philadelphia market for twelve 

 and a half cents, and the tree from which 

 had never been either grafted or budded. 

 There are still in existence many large and 

 aged peach trees, which have never been re- 

 moved from the place where the seed was 

 planted, or either grafted or budded, but 

 which continue to produce large crops of the 

 finest fruit. Nothing is easier than to plant 

 a row every year of the seeds of the finest 

 peaches to be obtained for money in the mar- 

 ket, and pruning them in their places until 

 they produce fruit, at which time those of in- 

 ferior sorts could be grafted, and others of 

 fine flavour might be permitted to remain, 

 with the expectation of their retaining health 

 and vigour for many years to come. 



B. H. 



Dec. 21, 1840. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Frieslaud Sheep. 



Mr. Editor, — In reading the address of 

 Nicholas Biddle, Esq., to the Pennsylvania 

 Agricultural Society, I perceive he omitted 

 to name the Friesland Slieep in his notice of 

 the different breeds, which, however, in my 

 opinion, and all who are acquainted with that 

 stock, are better adapted to the use of farm- 

 ing purposes than any stock of the kind in 

 our country. They were introduced into this 

 country from the Dutch Province of Fries- 

 land (which is celebrated for sheep of extra- 

 ordinary size) many years since, but it has 

 escaped my memory by whom. The stock is 

 unusually hardy, and they grow to a very 

 large size; I have killed them from grass, 

 without any extra food, weighing 110 lbs., 

 and I have known 13 lbs. 8oz. of washed 

 wool cut from a single sheep. The mutton 

 is particularly fine, the wool is coarse and 

 long, without being hairy, and is admirably 

 calculated for all the purposes of the farmer. 

 They have speckled or black faces and legs, 

 with large ears, resembling those of the 

 deer. 



The full-blooded animals, I apprehend, are 

 scarce, and but few have them. I can, how- 

 ever, trace my stock to the gentleman who 

 obtained them from the second owner in this 

 country. I shall dispose of some lambs the 

 next season ; but should any of your readers 

 have a wish to obtain the stock, they must be 

 engaged early : I would deliver them on the 

 cars of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, in 

 the month of August next. 



Any reference that may be required can 

 be given. Benedict Boone. 



Frederick County, Md., Dec. 5, 1840. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Emur, a Species of Barley. 



Mr. Editor, — A friend has put into my 

 hands a small parcel of a singular species of 

 grain, much resembling wheat, which will, I 

 expect, prove a very valuable crop for this 

 country, where the climate is sufficiently 

 warm to bring it to perfect maturity in three 

 months from the time of sowing. All that 

 is here known about it is this — some time 

 since, a German brought a very small quan- 

 tity of the seed to this country and planted 

 it, reserving the produce; to him it was 

 known by the name of Emur. Mr. James 

 Gowen, of Mount Airy, Germantown, pur- 

 chased some of this seed in the spring, which 

 he sowed on the 6th of April, in a situation 

 by no means favourable to its growth or yield, 

 yet on the 16th of July he harvested a very 

 large crop, weighing 60 lbs. per bushel. The 

 seed which he obtained was not clean, it had 

 many oats intermingled with it ; these grew 



