No. 7. 



Horticulture — Cecidomyia. 



235 



the largest ; they should be perfectly formed, 

 and sound ; in the cabbage we prefer a small 

 stem, well-formed head, and few spare leaves ; 

 in the turnip, well-formed bulb, small neck, 

 slender stalk-leaves, and solid flesh ; in the 

 radish, if red or scarlet, high colour to the 

 point, small neck, and few leaves, and those 

 short; in the beets of different varieties, the 

 handsomest roots, and the crowns of none of 

 these above enumerated should be removed, 

 for from them only do the seed-stalks arise ; 

 and, in choosing, those plants only which are 

 earliest in their growth should be selected ; 

 they will be found to include the highest de- 

 gree of perfection, in every respect. The 

 land on which the plants are set for seed need 

 not be highly manured ; it must be stirred deep, 

 kept clear ffom weeds, and well pulverized. 



" Fifth ; Bat the most effectual means must 

 be taken to prevent a mixing of the sorts 

 while in blossom : there can be no cross be- 

 tween a cabbage and a carrot, but there can 

 be between a cabbage and a turnip, and be- 

 tween a cabbage and a cauliflower nothing 

 is more common ; as also between the differ- 

 ent varieties of the cabbage, from the early 

 York to the Savoy, while turnips will mix 

 with radishes and ruta-baga, and all these 

 with rape ; and these results will all mix with 

 j cabbages and cauliflowers. And if, as in the 

 case of Indian-corn, a mixture has taken 

 i place between plants at a great distance, 

 j what must be the consequence of saving the 

 I seeds of cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and 

 I squashes, all growing on the same patch at 

 I the same time ! It is easy, however, to save 

 i seeds from any of those, if they are planted 

 j a good distance from each other ; and this could 

 be accomplished by neighbours, one of whom 

 might plant in the same bed the cabbage 

 and beet for seed, another may plant the tur- 

 nip and carrot, while a third may plant the 

 cauliflower and onion, »&,c., without danger 

 of intermixing. All seeds are best preserved 

 in their pods until they are perfectly dry and 

 hard, and when taken from thence, care must 

 be observed to keep them from the least damp- 

 ness. Many of these seeds will germinate 

 freely for years,* and all, much longer than 

 has been imagined, if they have been allowed 

 to remain until they are perfectly ripe, and 

 have been carefully kept. The cucumber, 

 melon, and gourd tribe, are better for keeping 

 any reasonable length of time, as, when old, 

 they do not go so much to vine ; while the 

 carrot, which is supposed to lose its germinat- 

 ing powers after the first year, may be kept 

 for many years, and it will then grow freely." 



* Wheat, after being kept sixty-two years, in a dry 

 doset, has been found to grow as freely as that of the 

 last year's harvest ; and it is said that some grains of 

 wheat have been found in the ruins of Herculaneum, 

 ; nnd others enclosed in a mummy, which grew freelv, 

 upon planting. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Cecidomyia. 



Mr. Editor — Any how. Miss Morris's 

 theory of the Hessian-fly cannot be correct. 

 She tells us, if we wish to escape its ravages, 

 it will be necessary to obtain seed-wheat 

 from that part of the country where the fly 

 is not known — naming some counties in this 

 state. Now, it is admitted by all, that the 

 Hessian-fly is not known in England, and yet 

 the fine sample of golden-drop wheat which 

 was brought from thence by Mr. .T. C, and 

 sown on his farm, under the most favourable 

 circumstances, suffered equally with other 

 crops, of both the autumn and spring varie- 

 ties, grown at the same time, and on the 

 same flirm. Nay more, Mr. H. E., who the 

 last autumn, sowed with the greatest care, 

 and, in his judgment, at the most favourable 

 season, an uncommonly fine sample of Odessa 

 wheat, direct from Europe, where, let it be 

 remembered, the fly is not known, finds it, at 

 the present time, totally destroyed by the fly ; 

 while his main crop, immediately adjoining, 

 is perfectly free and healthy, although the 

 seed sown was from that part of the country 

 which has regularly suffered from the fly, 

 and no particular mode had been adopted for 

 the purpose of cleansing it. 



And how is it that those of us who have 

 been guilty of planting " Hessian-flies," will 

 be " borne harmless," if it shall please the 

 x\lmighty to bless us with a genial season 1 

 even Miss Morris's crops of jlies will come 

 to nought, if the weather be kindly, maugre 

 all her attempts at cultivation ; nor will they 

 trouble us again until the influences of a 

 blighting year — an unpropitious atmosphere 

 — shall again fall upon us; then again, how- 

 ever, we shall have them, never fear. 



Pennsylvania. o, L, 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 The Berkshires outdone. 



A HOG of the common breed, precisely 

 twenty months old, was slaughtered a few 

 days ago by David Williams of East Hallow-, 

 field township, weighing six hundred and 

 sixty-five pounds. No extra efforts had been 

 made to make him reach that weight, for he 

 had been kept and fed with a numerous lot 

 of fine hogs, and had also been retained a 

 boar until a few months since. 



I this day sold one of his pigs, a boar, eight 

 months old, to Mordecai Lee of Maiden- 

 Creek, Berks-county, which required a box 

 five feet long, and nearly three feet high, to 

 transport him in. 



Well done Chester! Can it be beaten 

 with ordinary care and feeding anywhere ? 



Chester County, January 24, 1841. 



